Here are some factors to consider when building an online collaboration tool for business.
Reasons people will not
create content:
1. The "Information is Job Security"
mentality. Make fun of it as much as you wish, there is some truth to
the idea that holding back certain key pieces of information can be a
method for building job security. Gatekeepers know that if they gain a
reputation for being the only person who can get a certain task done,
they will gain repeat customers for this task. I used to scoff at this
behavior (being a person who happens to really love sharing information)
However, after being in the trenches of various corporate
environments, I no longer scoff at the gatekeeper personality. I have
quite frankly seen that gate-keeping information does sometimes keep
more job security. This is going to be a factor of the corporate
culture. Does your company value personal achievements only, or does it
value the people that make up teams that share information and support
each other. If your company only values or appears to value rock stars
and people who seem irreplaceable, then your may have trouble convincing
people to share the contents of their heads. After all, part of the
reason for capturing knowledge in a collaborative system is that it will
remain after the person leaves. For an employee to want to take extra
time to populate a collaborate database, they have to have a certain
level of trust that their contribution will be valued more than the fact
of them being the only one who knows something.
2. KISS.
If your employee takes a look at the workspace and is confused at first
glance, they probably will never go back to it. It has to be easy and
easy to understand. Think Facebook. If you expect your tool or project
to take off, make sure that it is dead simple to use. Busy people have
a lot to do, and they can't take time to be trained to use a
collaborative system. It needs to just work, and look and act like
tools they may already be familiar with outside the corporate
environment.
3. Teams need to know they can have
privacy for team workspaces and easily be able to tell which spaces are
corporate wide and which are team limited. Do provide some basic
training to team leaders for the application so they can set their own
security. I think a proper system would list on the top of the screen
what groups have access to the information. Companies need to keep
their intellectual property secure.
4. No one wants to be
the first person out on the dance floor. We are extremely social
creatures and seek to avoid embarrassment at all costs. The make our
break of a collaborative system is if it "takes off." I would strongly
consider not only pre-populating some posts, but also make sure there
are always fresh posts. No one wants to post to a dead forum or
workspace. If I were the owner of a collaborative system just getting
off the ground I would literally assign content population to a certain
number of team members to ensure that there is some use. Bribes
Prizes for people who take the plunge and add their own content may be
in order.
5. People need a sense of ownership. If it
feels cold and disconnected from the people behind the posts, it has
less chance of success. I would have someone go around and take a photo
of each team member so you can populate their profile page. One of the
most powerful aspects of electronic collaboration is to allow team
members in various locations the ability to have a conversation without
having to fly across the globe. Have a photo next to your name is
priceless.
6. Disconnected systems. If you want to use
your collaborative system to help locate expertise in your organization
you need to spend the time to link back end systems. Populate user
profiles with job titles, skill sets, and certifications. Make sure
telephone numbers, BBM pin numbers, email addresses, and other contact
information is listed. Avoid duplication of data entry if possible.
Don't throw up a collaborative system out of the box with no links to
the other corporate systems or its probably destined to be an orphan
application.
