The Future of Collaboration

Town Hall Meetings- they happen in every company in every office around the world at least once a year... normally reserved for the leaders to drone on endlessly about the company. It is time to re-invent the town hall by making it interactive and collaborative with useful outcomes. Here is a Cost, Interactivity matrix with dozens of ideas on how to make your next company get together more interesting. (Prezi Presentation - click the arrow to move through or just zoom around to the points that interest you!)

If you liked this, you might be interested in our Panel Discussion Guide, Interactive Exercises Guides or contribute your own by following the directions at the top of our Circle Up Guides!

tagged

presentations,

town hall in

icebreakers,

ideas,

meetings,

virtual collaboration |

Friday

Jul302010

Simple Collaboration Tips and Tricks

Friday, July 30, 2010 at 4:03PM |

For many of us, being a business person is the opportunity to show off our knowledge and expertise, providing answers to their challenging problems.

At the same time, we also have to find ways to collaborate with and facilitate work with the client, making sure that the knowledge and the improvements will continue to live and grow with the client after we've left.

Here are some principles that may apply to any type of collaborative environment (after the jump):

collaboration experiences,

tagged

executives,

iteration,

meetings,

trial and error in

ideas,

meetings |

Friday

Jul232010

Collaboration Klout & Knowledge

Friday, July 23, 2010 at 9:00AM |

Collaboration had its most 'discussed' two months in history (at least by what's traceable online)

Here are some of the finest examples of collaboration proliferation online:

Work Awesome:
Resource for people who love what they do, and want to become awesome at it. It’s a blog for people who want to be awesome at work. It’s also a blog for people who want to be awesome at what they’re passionate about. Whether it’s the music you’re making in your home studio or the freelance business you’ve always wanted to start, or even (of course) your job, we’ve got it. We’re going to teach our readers about starting things, completing things and trying new things – and be “awesomely productive” when doing so.

Many more after the jump...

tagged

bold ideas,

education,

identity in

articles,

collaboration |

Friday

Jun252010

There Are No More Blind Dates; Collaborate Online First

Friday, June 25, 2010 at 4:01PM |

The socially powered Web has become the tool of choice to find business and personal information about the people, products, services, and companies we are considering doing business with. Because people know they can do a quick bit of research and often discover additional information before making purchase decisions, it’s become a standard part of the process for both buyer and seller.

This creates tremendous opportunity while raising the bar for anyone that sells a product or service.

There are no more blind dates. Your prospects can know more about you, your products, your company and your solutions than you with very little work. And the same holds true – you can and should know all about a prospect’s challenges, strategies, peers, and constraints before you ever pick up the phone to call them.

tagged

google,

identity,

virtual in

articles,

consulting companies |

Wednesday

Jun162010

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration ROI

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 2:48PM |

You may be familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It's a theory Abraham Maslow proposed in 1943, that provides a pecking order of human needs. At the bottom of the pyramid are physiological needs: breathing, food water, etc. The fundamentals needed for basic survival. The needs then climb the pyramid, becoming more intangible as one goes along: safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization.

The theory's structure of moving from tangible/tactical needs to those that are intangible and more impactful is actually well suited for another purpose. That of the software decision-maker inside companies...

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Enterprise 2.0 ROI

The decision to purchase an enterprise software application is one that generally demands a variety of different views about benefits. Because with most enterprise systems - Enterprise 2.0 included - there are a variety of benefits:

tagged

heirarchy,

networks,

roi in

articles,

social capital |

Monday

Jun142010

Collaboration Isn't Email

Monday, June 14, 2010 at 9:55AM |

Business Insider graphic showing how social software is more common that email now.There is a great divide happening.

We are collaborating online in a completely different ways from off-line. We are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in virtual collaboration with our actions and our financial investments.

Virtual collaboration started with email, which was actually just really fast letters. Virtual collaboration today is so immersive, it is re-defining what collaboration even means.

But we still collaborate THE SAME EXACT WAY on work, on projects, on ideas... when we are face-to-face. Just as social collaboration has become the default way of communicating (see chart above) BECAUSE OF countless billions of marketing, technology and financial investments, where is the investment in improving how we collaborate together in person?

- Where are the investments to improving collaboration in meetings
- Where are the apps that lock you out of PowerPoint so you can actually get something done
- Where are the startups that redefine 8 people working around a table with singular goals
- Where are the software programs that turn off electronics when you are having a human to human conversation
- Where are the carpenters to destroy the windowless conference rooms
- ...

tagged

networks,

problem solving,

social media in

collaboration |

Wednesday

Jun092010

Bring Tim To Speed Up Meetings

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 10:59AM |

There have been few inventions that actually improve meetings and collaboration during them. I am sure you have heard/tried them all.

- No shoes
- Charity tip jar
- Tardy dance
- Standing room only
- 20 second auto-advancing PowerPoint slides
- Cell phone signal blocker

The list could go on and on. But finally (and no, this isn't from The Onion) there is Bring Tim. Here is a quick video about it:

tagged

meetings,

tools in

ideas |

Wednesday

Jun022010

Cisco: Collaboration ROI Proof!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 8:00AM |

In the last decade, the Internet, mobile, and broadband technologies redefined our way of life. Collaboration tools have become business-critical, adding value in many ways. Cisco has presented a framework for assessing the return on a collaboration investment across three areas:

- Operational Return on Investment (ROI): Achieved by reducing and/or avoiding costs

- Productivity ROI: Realized through more efficient processes, faster time to market, and reduced cycle time

- Strategic ROI: Leading to business transformation and strategic advantage

We have moved from the first generation of collaboration focused on individuals within a single company to more advanced tools that facilitate social sessions across organizations. Now more than ever, a network-centric approach is essential to maximizing the benefits of today’s collaboration technology.

Download the full PDF report.

Conclusion:

Is collaboration worth it? The research says, yes. To measure the full return on collaboration, business leaders should consider results across three areas: operational ROI, productivity ROI, and strategic ROI. A modest level of collaboration results in moderate performance gains; however, progressively better collaboration yields progressively better performance and returns. Now is the time to plan your collaboration strategy. Pioneers in financial services, healthcare, education, and other industries already are defining new enterprise standards in their industries. Don’t miss the opportunity to be an innovative collaboration leader.

tagged

analysis,

cisco,

matrix,

research,

subject matter experts,

telepresence in

articles |