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Cooperation vs. collaboration: 60-second sidebar with Diane Chaleff

April 02, 2021

Diane Chaleff, Google's Productivity & Collaboration Lead for Google Cloud's Office of the CTO, explains the distinction between "cooperation" and "collaboration," and why it matters.


Video Transcript


Speakers: Diane Chaleff, Product Manager, Google

Diane Chaleff: Hi, I'm Diane Chaleff from Google Cloud's Office of the CTO, and I'm our Productivity and Collaboration Lead.

What is the difference between "collaboration" and "cooperation"?

Diane Chaleff: To me, when we're in a cooperative environment, it means that each person is doing their task or their part quite independently of other people. And when they finish it, they hand it off to the next person, almost like they're in an assembly line. There's not a lot of room or opportunity for feedback. However, when we're in a collaborative work environment, there's many people working together on the same items so that they can share ideas, get feedback from each other, and drive to an even more innovative and better result.

Why is this distinction important in the new hybrid world of work?

Hybrid work = a mix of work days spent at home and in the office.

Diane Chaleff: In the world of hybrid work, it's really important that we continue to create paths for everyone to be able to participate. We want to hear feedback from our peers and our colleagues to better improve our ideas.

Diane Chaleff: When we're in a hybrid environment, because we're not all in the same place, we need to be extra cognizant that we're creating these opportunities for ideas to be injected early and often into our work streams.



Produced with Vocal Video