So you have decided that it is time to bring Web 2.0 to your organization. How do you get started? As with any culture change, there are a few key principles to keep in mind before you wade in there. For shifting to Web 2.0 involves an organizational culture change, as I’ll be describing in future posts. Happily the very nature of Web 2.0 technology absolutely requires utilizing best practices in organizational culture change. On the down side, if you don’t use these best practices things could go very wrong. Continue reading →
Enterprise 2.0 Conference
Organizations typically do not make effective use of their workforce. There is a lot of untapped (and trapped) potential lurking in those cubicles and on the shop floor. People dying to contribute, add value, enjoy meaningful work, trapped (at the bottom, middle, yes even the top) in the organizational structure. Enterprise 2.0 collaborative software promises to change that.
This week at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference held in Boston, a number of presentations addressed some of the changes anticipated within organizations when collaborative software is introduced. Here is a sampling:
3 Web-Based Collaboration Tools Your Team Cannot Do Without
Web-based collaboration tools are under utilized. Whether your team operates as a co-located or virtual team, web-based collaboration tools can greatly enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Here are three types of web-based collaboration tools that any team can use. Once a team starts to use these tools, team members will wonder how they had managed beforehand.
Wiki: I recently assessed a project undertaken by a group of scientists during which they amended a document required to guide government regulations. The way they went about doing it was this:
Web-Based Collaboration Tools within Your Organization: Get with It!
If there were a way for people at your organization to work more efficiently, effectively and also be more motivated would you be interested? What if the tools to do it were free? Sounds like a no-brainer, right?
Well, this possibility exists for everyone, yet, to date, the vast majority of work teams are not yet taking advantage of it. This is changing rapidly as more and more adopt tools and technologies that allow for a new way of working.
How Can Web 2.0 Help My Business?
Web 2.0 is here to stay and organizations are stepping up to the plate to find how their business can benefit.
John Blossom, who wrote Content Nation (see below) identifies three ways organizations can benefit from Web 2.0 (Social Media) tools:
Web 2.0 tools enhance team productivity and innovation: Continue reading →
Virtual Teams: How Remote is “Virtual”?
If your team members are scattered across the country, you would call it a “virtual team”. What if team members operate from different locations in the same city, do you have a virtual team? How about if members are working in different buildings on the same campus? What about being in the same building but people are working on different floors? Think about the people you work with and who you talk to and spend time with. Who do you naturally collaborate with? How far away do you need to be to be classified a “virtual team”?
MIT Professor Tom Allen studies the relationship between proximity and collaboration Continue reading →
Team Building Delivers Results from the First Meeting
Team building is sometimes thought of as a “nice to have”, to do if there is time, perhaps a special treat for a job well done. Less appreciated, is the critical role team building plays in achieving team results. An important team building strategy is to start attending to team building the instant a team first meets.
Recently I had the opportunity to see four self-managing teams within the same organization present their year’s worth of effort and what was immediately apparent to me was that two of the teams had achieved more than they ever thought possible and the other two teams had barely met the minimum requirements of what was expected of them.
