Community Possibilities

Dr. Marisa Rinkus, the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative, and the Power of Collaboration

March 23, 2022 Ann Price Season 2 Episode 22
Community Possibilities
Dr. Marisa Rinkus, the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative, and the Power of Collaboration
Show Notes

I started this podcast because I wanted to have hard conversations.  So when I saw the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center post on LinkedIn, I knew I wanted to learn more. In this episode, Dr. Marisa Rinkus joins us to talk about her work at the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center at Michigan State University.

Marisa's early experience with the Peace Corps working in small communities in Guatemala and then later, with the Wildlife Foundation, prepared her for her work today.  Marisa's worked  to understand community needs. She learned she was a "connector" and enjoyed serving as a resource for communities. Marisa learned that there is often disconnect between resource managers or policy makers and communities often because of the assumptions we make about others.   

Now, as an Associate Director of TDI, Marisa helps teams, particularly research teams, to be more effective and function more collaboratively. TDI works with groups who are working towards a common goal by conducting workshops and  strategy sessions. Based in philosophy, the team is multidimensional and brings that perspective to their work through the science of team science.

The aim of TDI workshops are to enhance:

  • Cross team communication and collaboration through dialogue
  • Two-way communication 
  • The identification of root causes of problems

Workshop participants learn that they are more alike than different. They learn to deal with assumptions and to recognize "unacknowledged differences" through perspective taking and getting curious. Workshops help build individuals' and groups' capacity to be open and communicate more effectively.
 
We need to do the hard work of imagining things differently. Focusing on tasks alone won't get us to community change.

Links:
The Toolbox Dialogue and Initiative
Toolbox Dialogue Book
twitter.com/msutoolbox

Bio
Marisa Rinkus is an Associate Director of the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center at Michigan State University. Her work involves designing and facilitating Toolbox Dialogue Initiative workshops and studying the impact of structured dialogue on cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration. As a lead facilitator and researcher with the TDI since January of 2017, she has led team science related research and client-based projects for the National Science Foundation and multiple universities in the US. She was also a contributor to the recently published book, The Toolbox Dialogue Initiative: The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Practice. Marisa was the recipient of a Fulbright grant

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Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com