TEAM DYNAMICS FOR REAL ADOPTION

Sustaining Collaborative Solutions

Companies often try to deploy collaborative solutions that are disconnected from their business and face serious adoption challenges as employees struggle to see their relevance and value. These solutions eventually fade away while the stakeholders wait for the cargo to arrive (see “cargo cult”) and users find other ways to communicate.

The transformational power of collaboration initiatives lies in fostering and/or amplifying a real collaborative culture using tools that over time will integrate with the organization’s core systems, data stores, and business processes. This requires strong sponsorship, a cross-functional team and focus on culture and process change. The diagram below illustrates three key layers to deploy and sustain a collaborative platform.

Enablers provide the infrastructure and change management support that underpins the collaborative (Enterprise / Intranet 2.0) initiative. They continuously adapt the infrastructure and remove obstacles to maintain the right conditions for success.

Stewards are the content catalysts that make sure the solution is always in motion. They break the initial inertia and work with enablers to keep momentum. They play a key role in sustaining and curating the platform. Stewards know how to navigate the waters to maximize the wind in their sail… and when there is no wind, they are the motor that keeps the sailboat moving.

Users represent the broadest layer and are ultimately what sustains everything else. Individuals play different roles at different times as their level of engagement and collaboration needs change over time.

Originally published at http://ornot.ca on August 12, 2010.