Overcoming
the Barriers to Enterprise Collaboration
Your organisation has taken the
plunge and invested in a shiny new enterprise social media platform. Everyone
is talking about the enormous benefits to be had through collaborative working
and better employee engagement. At last, you can throw off the shackles of that
email inbox and really start to become more productive.
But is this vision we’re being sold by the social technology vendors
actually being realised, or is life just a bit more complicated than that? The
answer - as usual - lies somewhere in between.
Part of the problem is our increasing reliance on technology, and a
belief that it can solve all of our problems. No matter how many times we hear
the mantra that ‘it’s not the technology, it’s the people that matter’, the
task of implementing social software within the enterprise is - more often than
not - addressed as an IT project. But technology doesn’t provide a solution for
social interaction and human relationships.
What is becoming increasingly apparent to the early adopters is that the
real challenge with introducing social software is not the technology itself,
but the introduction of new modes of behaviour. The reality is that the
cultural aspects of the social collaboration journey are far more rigorous and
require more serious attention than the implementation of technology. It really
is the people that matter!
Until and unless organisations treat the implementation of social
software as an organisational development (OD) activity, taking a more holistic
perspective of culture, education, business processes and technology, they will
struggle to gain widespread adoption across the enterprise and only partial
realisation of the benefits of a more engaged and collaborative workforce.
In order to address some of these wider OD issues, it helps to
understand the potential obstacles and barriers to change that are rooted in
the legacy environment. These are the behaviours and conditions that have
evolved over time and now rarely questioned or challenged.
They are the ‘norm’ and even new employees will adopt these patterns of
behaviour in order to conform. Either that or they will decide to leave the
organisation. It’s all part of the corporate survival game. Mavericks are
rarely tolerated.
What do we mean by enterprise social
media?
It is worth pausing for a moment to examine the flurry of new terms and
buzzwords that broadly mean the same thing. The term ‘social media’ continues
to divide those who associate it with frivolous use of time, using services
such as Facebook or Twitter, and those who recognise the potential value of
having a far more connected and engaged society. This will ever be the case,
and more of this later when examining the obstacles to collaboration.
What started as personal and consumer-led adoption of tools that enable
sharing of ideas and conversations (broadly categorised as ‘web 2.0’) has, over
the past several years, become an integral part of new business thinking as
increasingly organisations have seen the benefits of having a more joined-up
workforce.
‘Enterprise 2.0’, a term first coined in 2006 by Andrew McAfee to
describe emergent collaboration technologies, is synonymous with the
integration of social media tools and services with the corporate intranet,
extranet and business processes. This term is now gradually morphing to ‘social
business’, and embraces the technologies and strategies that support
collaboration between the workforce, partners and stakeholders.
Enterprise social media is the set of tools, services, policies and
protocols that have been integrated into business processes in order to
facilitate and encourage engagement, collaboration and knowledge sharing within
and across the organisation. These may be free-to-use services, homegrown
solutions, or vendor products/applications.
The potential benefits are faster access to experts and knowledge and
more agile processes delivered via a people-centred organisation. Adoption of
enterprise social media solutions can spur efficiency, productivity and
innovation by encouraging employees and other stakeholders to share information
and discuss business problems in an open, collaborative setting.
Collaboration and knowledge sharing
Given that one of the many benefits of enterprise social media is to
encourage more collaboration and knowledge sharing, it is useful to look at why
and how this happens.
If employees are given the right tools and the right environment, will
they spontaneously collaborate and share knowledge? Why do some people find it
difficult to share and collaborate? If we understand these behaviours we can
reinforce the ones that facilitate engagement and sharing, and discourage the
ones that do the opposite.
What do we mean by collaboration?
Collaboration is when individuals or groups work together,
combining their strengths and negating weaknesses to accomplish a set of goals.
The important point about this definition is that the outcomes are more
likely to be amplified when working together as opposed to individually.
Obstacles to collaboration
Understanding the barriers and obstacles is the first step to
identifying potential solutions. Individuals acting alone may not be empowered
to make the desired changes, but if there is a real desire to collaborate and
share knowledge, most if not all of these obstacles can be overcome or circumvented.
The potential obstacles to effective collaboration have been categorised
into three groups:
- Group 1 issues are the hardest to identify and address because they
are based on emotion not logic. Persuasion, peer pressure, coaching etc.
are all needed in some form.
- Group 2 is more rational so there will be answers to these
questions that can increase motivation and turn it around.
- Group 3 is a question of investing resources to address
the gaps and build the skills. Not always cheap or simple, but logical
1.
Emotional: resistance based on real or perceived threats
A. Knowledge is power
Knowledge and information hoarders exist in every organisation. However, their
knowledge is likely to be one-dimensional, potentially very specialised and
limited to their own small network. This can’t compare to the wealth and
dynamic nature of knowledge in social networks. A case of ‘none of us is
smarter than all of us’. Specialised and narrowly focused knowledge can soon
become out of date and irrelevant, just like the knowledge hoarder
B. Command and control / hierarchy advantages
Some people don’t collaborate because there’s a real or perceived hierarchy in
the workplace. Over the years, the leadership may have developed a culture that
appears to value one person or group over another. Sharing knowledge with those
higher in the hierarchy may not be welcome or valued. Sharing knowledge with
those lower in the hierarchy may put you at a disadvantage, so knowledge is
hoarded. Communities of Practice and Social Networks will only function
effectively if there is no hierarchy, enabling knowledge to flow freely. It’s
worth remembering that hyperlinks subvert hierarchy!
C. Sceptical middle management
Sometimes called the ‘marzipan layer’. You may have support from the top (the icing),
and bottom-up encouragement (the cake). But middle management acts as a barrier
between the two. They are more likely to understand the detailed processes that
provide the foundations for how the organisation operates. They are likely to
be risk-averse, since any process changes may have unpredictable consequences,
and for which they may be ultimately accountable. This can have a dampening
effect on the social collaboration advocates, and only persistence and
demonstration of the benefits will convince middle management to support the
initiative. Accept that middle managers will be the laggards and build a
support network of change agents.
D. Fear of rejection
You have something to contribute, but previous experience leads you to believe
that your opinion is not valued. Typically seen in hierarchical network.
E. Afraid to ask
Asking for help is a sign of weakness. Most prevalent in hierarchical
structures where some perceived loss of credibility or power would results if
the person had to ask for help or advice. This would, after all, put them in
debt to the person, people or group that they could have consulted. Typical of
opaque working practices and can result in missed opportunities for adopting
good / best practice.
F. Fear of change
None of us like change. A familiar routine avoids having to think and enables
us stay within our comfort zone. A bit like wearing a comfortable pair of
slippers. But the reality is we need to change and adapt to the environment, or
we don’t survive. Complexity is all around us, and change is happening with
increasing velocity.
Holding back change is a bit like King Canute - with the
same outcome! Introducing something which forces change is often the only
answer, but the ‘disruption’ needs to be sustained in order to avoid returning
to the previous status quo. Integrating social software with established
business processes will create the desired change, so be clear about which
tools and systems are optional and which are mandatory.
‘If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.’
- General Eric Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U. S. Army
2.
Rational: Lack of willingness due to current ways of working
A. WIIFM / Lack of clear business case
What’s in it for me? It’s reasonable to seek value in what you do; otherwise
you’ll consider your actions as being a waste of time. Sharing knowledge
establishes a level of trust and understanding, and it’s more likely that
sharing will be reciprocated, and hence reinforcing collaborative behaviour.
B. Lack of support from the top
Bottom-up initiatives will more likely fail to take hold unless there is some
support from senior managers and directors. Ideally, collaboration initiatives
need to be aligned with business or service goals.
However, sometimes a degree
of subversion may be the only way of gaining the attention of senior managers
to the benefits of social collaboration. Freemium services such as Yammer can
provide a secure and private external environment for corporate collaboration,
and there are a number of examples of how an informal Yammer network started by
one person has gained sufficient traction amongst employees to become
officially recognised as a corporate asset.
C. Rigid job descriptions
Tightly written and prescriptive job descriptions will create real or perceived
boundaries that inhibit initiatives and taking on new responsibilities.
D. Micromanagement
Once assigned a task or objective by a manager, most knowledge workers will
just want to get on with it, with a degree of autonomy on how they go about it.
Some managers or supervisors feel the need to oversee every small detail, which
discourages initiative and dis-incentivises the worker. Collaboration will
probably be limited to the constraints set by the manager/supervisor.
E. Dissonance
This happens when managers tell people they want everyone to collaborate. But
at the same time, they independently assign tasks, targets and goals to various
individuals and teams. Agendas and priorities will vary and can range from
complementary to conflicting.
F. Geography
The layout of your workplace can help or hinder collaboration. The greater the
distance between colleagues, the greater the chance of miscommunication. This
is not just over-reliance on email when face-to-face conversation is needed,
but genuine ‘out of sight, out of mind’ lapses that keep smart people out of
the brainstorming, decision making or socialising that leads to positive
outcomes.
G. Language
Collaboration is always going to be difficult if the parties cannot make
themselves understood. Try to be flexible with the communication media
available; some people are better able to communicate verbally, others prefer
written communication.
H. Culture
Not every culture is open and transparent. Employees need to be aware of
rules and protocols that define collaboration with other cultures.
3.
Rational: Inability to collaborate due to lack of skills/tools or other
structural issues
A. No tools / poor tools / too many tools
To be effective, collaboration has to be made simple. Intuitive tools accelerate
user acceptance and can maximise the outcomes. However, tools need to be
relevant and optimised to the task(s) to be completed. Too many choices result
in cognitive dissonance (confusion on what to use for each task). If no tools
(other than email) you belong to a dinosaur organisation. It will eventually
become extinct. Decide when to move!
B. Digital divide
Hopefully less of an issue than it used to be, but there is no doubt that
anyone not able to connect to the Internet is likely to be at a disadvantage
for knowledge and information sharing compared with those who are more
digitally networked. Providing access to enterprise collaboration facilities
via smartphones and tablets may go some way to narrowing the digital divide.
C. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks
If people are given the appropriate incentives, or they can see some benefit to
themselves, they will usually make the desired behaviour change. However, some
people will never change. Don’t waste time. Accept it and move on.
D. Information overload / lack of time
Research papers and employee surveys have consistently identified that the two
biggest time-consumers are (1) attending meetings and (2) servicing the email
inbox. Employees may not have very much control over what meetings they are
required to attend, though they can reasonably ask to have input to the agenda
and ensure they go fully prepared in order to avoid any time being wasted
debating information that has only been partially shared.
Email is a topic in its own right, and will feature in a separate paper.
Suffice to say it has evolved to become:
- a chat-messaging platform (we send an email and get one back right
away!)
- a personal intranet for storing and searching for old information
or documents
a broadcast channel for distributing information regardless of
topic or relevance
- asking a question that can’t be answered by the recipients, who
then forward the email to their contacts…and so on.
- a calendaring and event management system where we set up meetings.
- a note-taking solution, for typing meeting notes and forwarding to
yourself for saving in your email folders.
Most people would agree that email is not the best tool for
collaboration and knowledge sharing, but it might be the only tool available.
It requires discipline about what is shared: does everyone need to know this
snippet of information?
Can people collaborate on a document more effectively
if it is placed in a common workspace rather than being sent as an attachment
to multiple email accounts? If there is a social software solution then use it
for anything other than 1 to 1 communication.
Better still if the social software can be integrated with the email
client. Think more critically about using the right tools for the job. If all
you have is a hammer, then all you can do is bash, regardless of whether there
is a nail there or not!
E. Inadequate training / education / support
Collaboration needs to be recognised as a key workplace skill, and included in
personal learning & development plans. It’s not something that can be
taught in a pedagogical sense, but can be encouraged through coaching and
mentoring. Learn from those around you who freely share knowledge. How do they
engage with and grow their networks? What tools do they use?
F. Legal / Compliance / Security
It’s not always possible, or even desirable to have open and transparent
discussion. Closed groups or communities can be used in some circumstances, but
we have to accept that there are times when wider collaboration is not
possible.
Some simple
steps to support adoption of enterprise social media
Don’t think of social media as a technology; think of it as a
business solution.
Be clear about the purpose and objectives of your social media
strategy. What problems will it fix? What opportunities will it unlock?
Don’t assume that users will immediately see the benefits. Adoption
is not something that can be forced on people. Adoption occurs when users
decide for themselves that the solution provides them with a net benefit.
Users very quickly weigh ‘what's in it for me?’ against any perceived
pain, such as giving up the comfort of an old way of doing something.
Ensure the solution is intuitive to use and broadly consistent with
standards used for web 2.0 services and applications. Love it or hate it,
Facebook has educated a whole generation of people on social technology,
personal profiles, data privacy etc. An enterprise solution that is
unusual or quirky will have difficulty in gaining traction.
Where possible, integrate any new social media solutions with
existing technology and business processes. Since employees rely heavily
on email, email integration is critical.
Find opportunities to apply collaborative solutions to business
challenges where risks are minimal and business value is clear. In
cautious and risk-averse organisations, safety trumps business value, so
choose low risk over high business value in the early days.
Seek out social media advocates and early adopters. Promote and
endorse any successes and quick wins.
Social behaviours develop over time. One successful example of
collaboration is not enough. Reinforce and repeat good practice, and give
sufficient time for new working practices to emerge.
Don’t give up at the first hurdle. No one ever said this was going
to be an easy journey!
