Working together with social media tools...or not

Barriers to internal collaboration may include a lack of institutional support, employees’ fear of losing a competitive advantage by sharing information, and employees’ lack of technical savvy (or confidence in their knowledge).  Will Kelly (2009) cites all of these barriers—he also notes that use of collaborative tools is most effective in organizations with flexible work schedules—not a common feature of libraries with set open hours!  Prior experience with poorly handled group projects may put off some people, who may fear that they will end up doing more work and others will do less, or that they will spend more time trying to organize the group than in actually doing the work.  Finally, many people may be reluctant to add a new task or tool to their existing work load, especially if they do not have a clear vision of how the new tool might allow them to do a better job or improve their daily lives.  In order for collaboration to be successful, it must seem worth the effort to the people involved.  

One of the exciting things about social media projects is that many of them seem worth the effort to volunteer contributors, each of whom adds as much or as little to the project as s/he desires.  When this model is successful, it can be amazing and energizing—but many proposed projects fail for lack of sufficient interest or effort.  In an organization of employees, we can’t depend on new collaborative tools being adopted “spontaneously”.  Hutch Carpenter (2009) suggests that collaborative tools are most readily adopted when there is a specific and necessary purpose, or “defined use case” for the tool.  He also suggests that managers offer employees both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for participating in collaborative projects.  His suggestions include using storytelling to convey a vision of the results of the proposed project, offering incentives such as recognition and rewards, using “executive reminders”, and deleting the old method that the new tool is intended to replace. 

His suggestions seem like helpful ways to make the collaborative project seem worth the effort to employees.  First, be sure that the project is for something that truly needs to be done.  Second, offer a clear vision of what the project is intended to accomplish, and how that will benefit the organization and the individuals who work there.  Third, entice and push people to participate.  If necessary, remove alternatives.  Finally, I would suggest that managers ask for employee feedback—is the collaborative project as useful as intended?  Could it be modified to work better?  What would make it more useful, convenient, or productive?  Demonstrating effective use of one collaborative tool for one particular project and asking for employee input on how to do it better will go a long way toward reducing barriers to further collaboration.

Carpenter, H. (2009). "Enterprise 2.0: Culture is as Culture Does." I'm Not Actually a Geek.

Kelly, W. (2009). "Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration." Web Worker Daily.