The Collaboration Model Project Council, at the University of Florida, represents an attempt to establish interinstitutional collaboration among (1) a university and two community colleges, (2) three county public school systems, (3) the teachers' associations of three counties, (4) community parents and citizens of three counties, and (5) college students involved in teacher preparation. The purpose of the council is to provide input into decisions made concerning inservice teacher education and staff development. A systematic observational study of the council was undertaken to analyze its operations. Findings revealed that the tempo of the meetings was controlled by the project director, and that patterns of interaction developed among members of the council. These patterns represented regularized exchanges of verbal behavior, sequencing of activity, and the use of space. Leadership of the council was also found in the project director. Next in line were three or four council members who tended to take prominent roles in discussion and decision making. In conjunction with its more general interaction patterns, informal groups made up of those members who interacted regularly apart from the formal setting, formed within the council. It is through these structures and behavior patterns that individual members taught themselves how to fit into the operation of the council. (RC)