Fostering collaboration

In our world we work a lot with models, prototypes and a tendency to draw things to make them real. To look at hanging ideas together to understand and communicate around each of the elements to find common understanding, find the flaws, improve the model, expand the thinking and so on. I have over time observed the value of this and increasingly this is a shared behaviour. The value has always been in how it enhances interaction and the conciseness of the output.

The key here is the idea of sharing, collaborating and interacting.

Furthermore this idea of prototyping or modelling is a strong element in transformation planning, skills transfer, technology adoption and the development cycle. This has all been obvious for some time. And then just lately there is a new insight into the power of prototyping or modelling and its role in creative collaboration. There is no doubt that innovation needs to be a core competency and a 21^st century differentiator for companies large and small.

So the new insight is that the model or prototype is a great attraction to kick off the almost intriguing phenomenon of team collaboration. Teams coming together, passionately and sometimes informally because they are attracted and excited by the idea expressed in the model or prototype. There is a dynamic unleashed by this technique which is not really clear. You will have perhaps observed it in your own environment.

There are some elements that certainly contribute to this. The first is that this most often happens when the team is together in some way, when they are interacting. This usually happens around a flip chart or notebook where the ideas can be represented and played with. The key here is the idea of sharing, collaborating and interacting. It is definitely not the static flow of documents. This is an active thing we are talking about. Usually there is a sharing of physical space, but it can conceivably work in shared electronic space, provided it supports some of what appears to be the key elements, for example interactivity, visual representation and so on.

It is also not a usual outcome of your typical meeting, where the focus is on forcing and assigning tasks and "running" projects. The key point here is that it usually starts with the idea and then the team forms around that. Some time ago, for example, we were "brainstorming" on quite a different topic when the idea of "transformation" as a key topic came up, again and again. Each time we drew a model this transformation thing popped up and we started to model that. This initially spawned an informal team that became excited about the idea of transformation management, who experimented with the model to the point where it resulted in a focused team being formed around this.

The power here is in the community that forms around the model. It is incredible what creativity can be unleashed through the community dynamic of like-minded people around a topic they are really passionate about. It is definitely this idea of modelling and prototyping that drives the process. This is what attracts the people. It is furthermore the shared space, the ability to interact and collaborate and it is finally the "relationship" that results in this community.

The next very important point is that this collaboration can and must also be applied outside of the organisation. Its potential is huge when applied with our customers. Increasingly we are striving towards having very unique relationships with our customers, we aim to give them something they cannot get from the competition and we want to work with them in such a way that it cannot easily be replicated or uplifted by the competition.

Collaboration is the key. So if we bring together these same ideas it is obvious how this can work with clients. There is the idea of the model or prototype - this is a powerful way to kick off the process, there is the idea of shared space to stimulate the collaboration, there is the idea of communities and "teams" forming spontaneously based on the excitement of the collaborative process and there is the interaction. Finally there is the unique outcome of such a collaborative process that is way beyond the run of the mill "best practices" with which clients get inundated. The starting point is the shared space. How to achieve shared space where the collaboration is honest, open and non-threatening.

Here is a distinct opportunity to replace both the notion of telling clients what to do on the on hand and simply listening to what clients say they want. There is a much more effective way and this is the collaboration idea, coming together in a shared space and working with the techniques of prototyping and modelling. You see, here we move away from the notion that it is only about "serving" our customers, which implies that the customer has this passive role, waiting for the gurus to administer to their wellbeing. Collaboration acknowledges the huge value in the knowledge, creativity and intellect of the client and working in collaboration with them.

There is a lot of work going on in looking at technology to support collaboration and there is a lot that can be applied including the Web. It is much more about a mindset change. It is not about structuring the flow of data and information but about structuring interactions and relationship among people. The Web is fundamentally about interaction between people.