Down To Business: Why Some People 'Dread' Collaboration

If a business imperative ever sent out mixed IT signals, it's collaboration. Consider three recent research findings:

Part of the challenge in fostering collaboration, says Shvetank Shah, executive director of the CEB's IT practice, is for IT organizations to get a better understanding of end users' workflows and the outcomes they hope to achieve, and then "tease out" the appropriate technologies. Collaboration isn't like customer relationship or supply chain management, whose top-down technology platforms require rigorous training and process enforcement. Collaboration is a more personal endeavor. People must intuitively see the value in using collaboration tools, and they must be engaged in their development and build-out.

Our own editorial organization is a case in point. Audio conference calls, e-mail, and instant messaging are our collaboration tools of choice. We also make selective use of room-based videoconferencing and Web-based document collaboration systems. Our everyday Web content management and magazine publishing systems have built-in workflow.

Enter "the wiki." Suddenly, we were told, most of the company's collaboration needed to happen on the new company platform. Part of a project team whose milestones and deliverables need to be documented? Great, get a wiki group going. Got a new HR policy or sales directive to share? You bet, post it in the appropriate wiki section. Part of an e-mail discussion longer than three responses? Really, take it to the wiki? Want to wish a co-worker happy birthday? Oh, no, please, not the wiki -- and the 40 additional e-mail alerts as everyone in the company extends his or her own witty best wishes for everyone to admire!

If people use wikis -- or any collaboration tool -- just because they're compelled to do so, they'll get lost in the white noise of misplaced communications. If users back away, it's not necessarily because they're hidebound or anti-social, or because the technology is inherently flawed (wikis are terrific for many things), but because they're not realizing the value.

Any personal technology that needs to be "driven" to end users through relentless training and pestering is going to peter out, especially if that technology adds three steps to what was previously a functional one-step process. Our editorial organization embraced e-mail and IM and our designated content workflow systems because they were and are indispensable -- users realized their utility from the get-go. They came with basic training up front and with upgrades, but no campaigns were necessary to encourage or enforce their continued use.

There are two kinds of collaboration: the kind that stimulates new ideas, solves problems, enhances teamwork, and distributes expertise; and the kind people use to cover their butts and show off in front of their peers and bosses. The first kind tends to propagate naturally, feeding off the culture of an organization; the second kind happens when the methods and tools are force fit, rendering collaboration an exercise unto itself.

Rob Preston,
VP and Editor in Chief, InformationWeek
[email protected]

To find out more about Rob Preston, please visit his page.