Web 2.0 Hereos (the book)

I just finished Web 2.0 Heroes, Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers by Bradley L. Jones.  Great book and so interesting.  Each “hero” has a terrific story, things that motivated them and keeps them looking forward.  Many of the same questions are asked to each “hero” and it is facsinating to read the similarities and especially the differences in their answers regarding Web 2.0 past, present and future.  Highly recommend this one!  Happy Collaborating!

Working with wikis

James Matheson, from Custom Ware  shared great info on wikis and working with them.  Some highlights:

What’s a wiki?  An editable web page BUT more social, people have more control over the content than a traditional web site and it is EASY!

What’s the difference in using one on the internet vs. an enterprise wiki? Permissions, notifications, search, versioning, and more!

Use Cases for Enterprise Wikis-intranet replacement, project management, meeting agendas/notes/minutes, social interaction and knowledge base.

Adoption– Put some structure to it so people can see the overall organization of it, keep it open and allow editing, seach must be excellent!

See this full article that is posted on Michael Sampson’s Blog.

Telecommuting

In the July 25th print addition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle there was a great article regarding telecommuting.  Michael Dziak, COO of e-Work.com, Inc., was quoted as saying “Teleworking was a novelty in 1990, trendy in 2000 and now becoming very common. In 2015 it’s going to be a standard practice for everybody and if you don’t do this you’ll be in the Dark Ages.” 

Using technology of course is imperative for this—-BUT not just catching  a signal so that you can be on the internet.  The use of IM type tools insures that you are visible to others on your team and you in turn can see who on your team is available.  Do you and your team use this?  What about a virtual workspace to share documents and to collaborate on them?  Do you and your team use this?  How about a social networking tool where you can share what your expertise and experience is so others can seek you out?  If you and I are working on a similar project or initiative, do we know it?  Can we search on it?  As a manager how can you effectively manage folks you do not see sitting in a cube hour after hour? 

How about the trust part?  Communication? Getting to know one another?  Water cooler time and coffee breaks?  These are intregal parts of any team whether you are near or far from each other.  Do you  and your team use the tools mentioned above to connect with each other, build trust and loyalty?

I think whether it is telecommuting, a team that is spread across the globe or a team that sits next to each other, all of these questions are valid and should be acted upon.  Using collaboration tools to not only share knowledge and information but to also talk to one another in a quick efficient way AND also to find out something about each other–our background, interests, etc is all valid no matter what the team situation is.  The fact that a team is spread out geographically brings these issues to the forefront, but many of us have had teams that are close in proximity but still do not collaborate.

Collaborating is an attitude and must be desired to have it work no matter what your technology is.  It starts with a person then moves to the tool.  After that it doesn’t matter where my computer connects, I am connected with YOU!

Happy Collaborating!

Just pick up the phone would ya?

I had lunch today with an upper level manager from a large, global corporation.  The purpose of lunch was to collaborate on working with remote teams–challenges, what works, what doesn’t, where are the holes, etc.  He works for a technology company so having collaboration tools at his disposal is not an issue.  He has a plethora to choose from and admits that he has only scratched the surface here as there are so many available.  His team is global with a significant number out of the country and time zone!  He has done many things right in getting cohesiveness on his team like meeting with those that are remote to get to know them face to face, posting pictures on the intranet site, profiles are online, instant messanger products and conference calls are used to name a few things.  BUT when I asked what the biggest factor was in bringing his team together he said “the telephone!”  It made me think that too many people avoid the phone now and sometimes use email and the other online tools to avoid talking with folks.  If communication and trust are the foundation of collaboration, doesn’t the phone make sense?  He said he encounter resistance from his team at first, but he does practice what he preaches.  He commits 2, 1 hour phone calls a week to his team members that are on the other side of the globe.  He has his local team members do the same–they are required 1 hour of phone time with their counterpart once a week.  This has helped in many regards–starting to understand each other’s culture, overcoming language barriers and challenges and just basic clarification that everyone is understanding goals and projects the same.  The phone time has also become their “water cooler” time as I like to call it.  Over time they have evolved into developing relationships with one another and asking about each other’s lives.  Just like you do with those you are face to face with daily. This was a great reminder to me!  The telephone—”reach out and touch someone” as the Bell ad states!  Happy collaborating!

Introducing Social Networking at Work Part III (do we need it?)

When you did the analysis of your business processes you may have found that teams are spread out and/or work different hours.  It might look like the company below:

ABC Corp has 2000 employees, 12% of which work remote–meaning at home.  Since ABC Corp is spread out globally, the teams function as remote teams even though these team members are in an office of ABC Corp; some teams also have members from the 12% who work at home.  When looking at processes it is discovered that:

• The manager feels somewhat out of control; he/she is not sure always when his remote team members are on line.
• At home remote workers feel disconnected at times–they feel they are the “last to know” and do not have the same feeling of connectiveness as those in the office do as far as connecting with other ABC Corp employees–even if those employees work for different business units/projects.  It causes a feeling of insecurity within this group of employees.
• Too much email seems to be a consistent theme–since this seems to be the way people share information on projects they are working on, since they are spread out from each other and in different time zones, they email ALOT!  No one is quite sure what the latest document is.
• Expertise is spread out across the organization.  BUT when a team member hits a road block or challenge there is no way to tap into this expertise and to connect with someone that has knowledge in that area.
• There is no process for many things; each area has created their own.  No knowledgebase to research to inquire if another unit is doing a similar process.  So the “wheel is reinvented” over and over again.
• Trust and communication is an issue.  People feel more open to communicate and then to trust if there is face to face connections than when they know nothing about their team member.  Loyalty?  It barely exists.
• Job turnover is high on these remote teams.  Even with the members that like their job, they are not reaping the benefits of connecting with coworkers, so they seek out other job situations.
• It has been difficult in assigning tasks and tracking progress on those.  It is hard to talk to someone across the globe and during the day employees are left wondering what the status on project tasks are.

These are just a few of the things you may have discovered in doing the analysis on the user end.  Many holes and processes that are not quite working.  I am sure you can think of many more!  Share those in the comments and then let’s collaborate on a solution and buy in to that solution!  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!  Happy collaborating.

Bar Camp

I was not fortunate enough to attend SocialMedia BarCamp but have read a couple blogs on the experience.  In Paige Findleman’s blog on Enterprise 2.0  she talks about the feeling of it being very unorganized.  Read her blog for more of her comments. 

It intrigued me because as long as I have been in collaboration and facilitation, there is a sense from many that collaboration can “just happen.”  That is not the case.  To have collaboration happen effectively MUCH has to be done up front.  One of the first keys in getting people to collaborate is communication and trust.  If you blow the trust factor early, the collaboration is blown as well.  As someone who has been facilitating groups to bring them into collaboration and then into consensus I can tell you that planning up front is always 3 to 4 times the amount of time as the event.  The event then looks easy, seamless and like I am not even working!  BUT lots has happenned prior to and lots is happenning during.  A good collaborative effort looks easy but is really well plan, orchastrated and evey possible “road” has been played out in your mind so you can eb ebb and flow as need be.  I love the idea of Bar Camp and hope to participate in a future one, BUT collaboration starts before the people arrive and it starts from the inside and works its way out.  Communication and Trust– then collaboration has a place to flourish!  Happy collaborating!

Introducing Social Networking at Work Part II

Reread the first entry in this series to refresh your mind dated 7/11.

After doing a little ground work you have now begun to evaluate the need.  You have an understanding of some business processes and you have examined the holes in the process.  Understanding the holes in the process(es) are key.  Without a person with a need there is no business case.  If you have determined there are some people with needs you are ready for the next step on the journey. 

1. Document the “as is” processes that are the focus of this
2. Document the ones that work (everyone can learn from these)
3. Document the processes that don’t work; emphasize the holes in the process, the challenges and the barriers.
4. Review the outputs from the facilitated brainstorming sessions. 
5. Rewrite the “broken” processes in a new way using the ideas that were received in the brainstorming session.

You now have a “gap analysis” done – where we are, where we want to be and some ideas on how to get there.  You have some high level, possible solutions for the processes that need improved. 

Next time, I will give you a case study as to how this might look and we will see what we do next!  Until then Happy Collaborating.

I found the boomers!

A few days ago, my question was begging the answer, “Where have all the boomers gone?” in my post regarding the shift in the workforce and knowledge base.  Well, last night I found them!  They were all at The Temptations and Four Tops concert at Chastain Park in Atlanta.    It made me smile to see all of us boomers singing the songs that we have known for about 40 years and dancing and clapping.  It occurred to me in the middle of “My Girl” that we boomers really do have collaboration in us!  Look at all the great tunes that just get you humming and tapping to the beat AND they cry out to the generations younger than us also.  How many of us know “20 somethings” and younger that love that music that came out of great musical collaboration? AND we do know how to pass it on and have done so successfully.  These bands that have withstood the test of time are not unlike great project teams and corporate environments.  The great ones getting you humming and tapping but yet are always looking forward, wanting to create more, wanting to share with others.  So, let’s take a lesson here!  Working together, creating together, having fun together and passing it on– that is true collaboration!  Happy Collaborating!

Introducing Social Networking at work

Social Media in promoting product is something that company after company is starting to implement.  Yesterday at a TAG (Technology Across Georgia) event, the panelists talked on this subject- the why should you’s, the how to’s and the gotchas.  I was happy to see such a panel brought together for our session. I learned alot and it was all relevent in today’s market.

Implementing Social Media inhouse is a hot topic as well. How can you broach this subject and how can it succeed and not seen as frivilous, silly stuff?  Before IT is engaged, do a little ground work; start here:

1. Have a clear understanding of the current business process in team collaboration and dynamics.

2. Where are the holes in this?  Examples -Team is remote and disconnected, mulitple copies of documents all over the place, lots and lots of email back and forth, no place to search for knowledge experts, no one place to find information on a topic, etc.

3. Engage a professional facilitator to work with information workers, managers, etc on brainstorming ideas on a better way.  Grassroots buy in is important!

4. Engage remote workers in these sessions to gage their feelings on being connected to the company and team?  What would help?

5. Engage managment to see the win win in doing things in a new and better way.  Put the WHY’s before the HOW’s.

Start here and as you can see engaging the right people early on is important.  This will begin to lay out the business case.  See what ideas start bubbling up here!  More next time.  Happy Collaborating!

Where have all the boomers gone?

That will be corporate America’s theme song shortly down the road.  With more and more boomers leaving the workforce to enjoy their 401k’s and retirements, knowledge is walking out the door as well.  That should be sounding the alarms across all industry.  The answer– get them to share all that stuff before they leave!  Why?  So you can still function after they are gone!  How?  Collaboration and Social Media– these are the tools that are needed inhouse to get that transfer of information going!  At least 1/2 of the internet population now has a social media presence.  That doesn’t mean they all have a My Space account (although many do!), but it does mean that we are getting more and more accustom to sharing our opinions and thoughts on line.  This is a great avenue at work as well.  Setting up a social presence at corporations is a great way to capture not only who is who but what do they know.  Make it searchable and you have an infinite source of knowledge about your company, best practices and tricks of the trade that employees discover over the years.  Don’t run from letting your employees use Facebook at work, but give them some reasons WHY, some guidelines on how to SHARE INFORMATION effectively in this space and EMBRACE IT! AND use your next generation of workers the Netgeners to evangelize it for you!  They know how to tap into it effectively. Happy Collaborating.