Successful communication is at the heart of great teamwork, but words can mean different things to different people. We all tend to project our own biases onto commonly used words.

Mary and David Sherwin — experts in team dynamics — have devised Teamwords, a collaborative card-based team-building system that cuts through differences to create consensus.

If we can agree on the meaning of words at the start of projects, we will understand each other much better as we work together.

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About Mary Paynter Sherwin:

Mary Paynter Sherwin is a seasoned writer, educator, and public speaking coach with expertise in helping individuals and schools develop rigorous curricula and activities for their learning needs. She has worked on multiple successful training programs and product innovation toolkits, such as Kaiser Permanente’s i60 Innovation Toolkit with Propelland and frog’s Collective Action Toolkit. Along with David, she is on the faculty of PNCA’s MFA in Collaborative Design, and was formerly an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s College of California.

About David Sherwin:

David is a design leader, teacher, and strategist with deep expertise in creating new products, services, and training solutions. At companies such as frog, Lynda.com, and LinkedIn, he has led and coached dozens of large-scale product and service design teams, as well as helped to create training workshops and events for clients such as UNICEF, DARPA, and the World Economic Forum. Along with Mary, David is co-author of design bestseller Creative Workshop and Turning People into Teams.

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