“Collaboration” is one of the newer buzzwords to make its way into the businesspersons’ vocabulary. Social media — a hot buzzphrase itself — like to emphasize the fact that they’re designed to enhance collaborative activity. One company (not ours) goes so far as to claim its collaborative software “can accelerate team productivity, improve interactions, and support innovation“.

“I call that bold talk…“
True Grit (1969)

What Does It Actually Mean to Collaborate?

Collaborate means “work together to accomplish a goal”; the word comes from Latin, “work with”. Collaboration implies that two or more people are working as equals (or close to it) to make something, to solve a problem, etc. John Lennon and Paul McCartney collaborated on much of the Beatles’ early work, for example.

What does it mean to collaborate within your organization? Do employees cross boundaries all the time, or do they stay in their comfortable little silos? As a leader/manager, you may think it’s not possible to collaborate with employees. You might picture yourself “up here” and your employees as “down there” — you might feel if your employees get the notion they’re your equals, you won’t have control of the organization.

I say you’ll never see true collaboration if you have that mindset. Your employees may be able to collaborate without you, but you not collaborating with them? Do you discourage independent thought, or the sharing of ideas? Do you not want your employees to grow? If so, you’re in more trouble than you know.

Why Do We Collaborate?

We’re essentially social beings. Some of us think we work well independently. While that may be true at times, over the long road of life we need others to help us accomplish tasks and achieve goals. We need input from other sources, whether it’s measuring devices or people, to assure ourselves that we’re doing the right thing in the right way, or at least headed in the right direction.

Collaboration can help ensure and improve quality. There’s this old saying that ”too many cooks spoil the broth”, but that’s only true when the cooks are working at cross-purposes, each trying to stake their claim as the best cook. That’s obviously not collaboration.

Collaboration comes about through a shared vision, shared priorities, and shared objectives. We get things done when we work together, don’t we?

“No man is an island, entire of itself.“
John Donne, poet (1572-1631)

Who Should Collaborate?

Collaboration should not be confined to your company. You can’t afford to keep it to yourself. Successful firms collaborate with everyone — their employees, their vendors, their customers. Every time you interact with someone, that’s an opportunity for collaboration, right? So, the answer is ”everyone”.

When Should You Collaborate?

As important as it is to collaborate — as much as it helps you and others accomplish — it can’t possibly be a “24/7″ activity. We all need time alone to think, review, contemplate, and decide. And there are, of course, those personal needs and interests that make us complete and help us collaborate much better.

For instance, if my Bizmanualz colleagues and I are together the entire workday, reading the same material, eating our lunches together every day, even spending every break period together, we wouldn’t get the cross-fertilization of ideas that we would if we occasionally spent time tending to our own interests. Another way to put it: When you spend a week or two on holiday with your family, aren’t you just a little sick of one another toward the end? Don’t you need a little time apart?

How Do You Ensure That Your Employees Continue Collaborating?

Collaboration cannot be a one-time event. Treat collaboration like any business process. You can model it on the Deming (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, for example. Of course, I’m not suggesting you write a collaboration procedure — you really can’t. Some of the best collaboration comes about spontaneously, after all. You wouldn’t want to restrict the collaborative process by saying, “It has to be done this way“.

Instead, you should write up guidelines for sparking or encouraging collaboration so your employees will recognize — and be prepared to take advantage of — problems or opportunities that are solved best through collaboration. You need to make it part of your company culture. While they’re working together, people should be inclined to take note of what works and what doesn’t, so they can add to the collective knowledge and continually improve the process of collaboration.

To get your employees to collaborate…

• Provide the right atmosphere;
• Provide a common vision and sense of purpose;
• Provide your employees with the means and the time to collaborate freely;
• Don’t do anything that would restrict collaboration or encourage “siloing”;
• Open up as many avenues for collaboration as possible, including software; and
• Lead by example.

Other Resources

• Sampson, Michael, “The Right Way to Get Employees to Collaborate”, Information Week, 9 May 2011
• Anderson, Chris, “Why Should You Publish Your Policies and Procedures Online?”, 3 Jan 2011
• Burrier, Dan, “Create Better, Collaborate Better“, Harvard Business Review (online), 25 May 2011

Capturing and retaining critical knowledge within your organization is important for developing your policies and procedures.  But communicating that knowledge effectively with customers, employees, and suppliers is the key to growing your organization.

Policies and Procedures that are written but not used will quickly become outdated.  Poorly written, confusing, or long text-based documents will not be used either.  What is used is the informal network of knowledge experts, mentors, and old hands that have done it enough to know what to do without procedure documents.  Is better documentation the answer?

Maybe… depending on what you mean by better documentation.  Procedure documentation can certainly be improved.  Redundant passages can be integrated, unclear terms can be defined, passive voice can be transformed into active voice construction, and poorly written or confusing parts can be clarified and re-written.  But this is of little help if people are not using the procedures.  Communications are two-way interactions.  Procedures provide the basic information but text-based procedures are only one-way communications systems.  A robust knowledge management system must communicate in many different directions in order to reach many different people.

Many-to-Many Communications

One form of a many-to-many communication system is using lean visual management.  Employees get involved creating visual maps, aids, and scoreboards for key processes.  Process improvements are captured as well as current process metrics, targets, and results.  Visual management provides the visual cues that remind employees of important process history, of key training elements, and of what is expected.  Visual management can be used to replace text based documents, create engagement, and foster the involvement lacking in purely text based procedures.

Online social networking concepts can be used to connect employees with each other.  Organizations can use visuals, job aids, video, and online interactive social media systems to go beyond text-based procedures.  Social media tools  encourage knowledge sharing, updates and feedback that increase knowledge transfer throughout your organization.  Collaboration becomes a reality if you create the knowledge management system that supports it.

New knowledge management systems can transform how your company communicates, interacts, and uses your policies and procedures at every level.  Implement a collaborative system that continuously improves user involvement, training, and communications.  Leverage your policies and procedures investment to garner more sales, save time and money, and grow your company.  It is all possible with new knowledge management system concepts.