Collaboration Tools

"We Take Care of Our Own" is a powerful song by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Part of Springsteen's 2012 Wrecking Ball album, the song has had political implications ever since its release. Since the song targets the working class, the message resonates more for where we are today.

We are all the working class. Together we can take care of our own.

The recent news Gartner released offers a metaphor on projected IT spending. "The global steady growth rates are a calm ocean that hides turbulent currents beneath," said John Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. Part of this discussion is how collaborative technologies are reshaping spending patterns, across all of the IT sectors that Gartner forecasts.

I am recommending use of planning tools to manage costs and customization of collaboration technologies. There are no shortcuts to software implementation, either. We need to document functional requirements, more than ever, including social and mobile applications and improve our workflow processes to work better together. We can take care of our own.

Now Springsteen's song starts off, "I've been knocking on the door that holds the throne. I've been looking for the map that leads me home. Wherever this flags flown. We take care of our own." You can listen to and watch Springsteen's music video to understand--you are not alone, and together, we can take care of our own.

Image copyright Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images 2013

Journalists and reporters can now find news quickly on Twitter especially from police departments (PDs) like in Seattle. As reported on Poynter, PD's use of Twitter to disseminate news is a growing trend. Seattle PD is a timely example  where bike cops tweeted, in the midst of protests in the city, on so called May Day.

The PDs use of digital media to transmit news and alerts signals a changing dynamic from traditional long forms of press releases. My article this week on student learning focuses on using new forms of social technologies and it became clear that students are already accustomed to using social media and other social tools to facilitate communications. At Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, for example, future professionals in the fields of public relations and journalism are developing collaborative skills along with media toolkits to take right into the field.

Effective use of social media is already being demonstrated by the PDs, since timing is critical. As cited on Poynter, the tweet from Seattle PD intended for reporters, 'You need to leave the area' that occurred during the protests nearly reached them when police officers in front of them issued orders.

Journalists and citizens may be advised to follow the police department in your area. Twitter is already displacing the old forms of immediate news distribution.

Our business network is much like a garden. In spring, we amend the soil, get plants in the ground, then water, weed, and fertilize all summer long until harvest. In the fall and winter, we share lessons learned and new gardening ideas with friends in our community (always a great topic at parties).

In my recent contact with Nancy Fox, a business strategist and advisor in Los Angeles, she shared tips for improving the way we network. Nancy and I dug into the roots of networking obstacles as you will see in Networking in All the Right Places. As any gardener knows, you need to rotate your crops, like tomatoes and plant them in a different spot in the garden.

In a similar way to gardening, a seasonal approach to networking may require us to review key strategies--who should we be networking with and where do we find these people. We harvested two regiments needed to nurture our networks: new resources and social intelligence. Read about the steps you can take to get out of your comfort zone. Let your network flourish.

Photo copyright John Rensten/Getty Images

Social software in the workplace like an intranet provides advantages for finding experts and making valuable connections to organizational and project resources. But conscious actions to improve identification of resources may require the support of a recommendation group.

I'd like to suggest setting up a recommendation group, much like how a review group or interdisciplinary team will function. A recommendation group would consist of cross-functional members within your organization, like market research, corporate communications, and human resources. The group would help pull together experts as needed for collaborative projects or identify people in your organization that can serve as advisor or consultant.

There is substantial reliance on search and retrieval of knowledge resources in the workplace. Review this actionable approach through a recommendation group and several other ideas to build more robust knowledge resources.

Professor John Hayes of Leeds Business School, UK spread his positive message on Youtube about appreciative inquiry, a technique that focuses on what is working well in relationships, the workplace, and life in general. Why is appreciative inquiry relevant in collaboration? "Viewing the world more positively we can try and identify opportunities that can be embraced," says Hayes.

One of my leadership topics  focuses on changing competitive behavior to collaborative leadership. I talked with John Anderson, principal of Glowan, a company specializing in leadership training programs. In particular, this program, Collaborative Advantage™ introduces collaboration into your organization and replaces the competitiveness with collaboration.

These strategies, 10 Ways to Change Competitive Behavior to Collaborative Leadership came out of our discussion that starts with using the technique of appreciative inquiry.

Try appreciative inquiry in your organization to discover what is the best and why, and then explore the possibilities of amplifying the best, says Hayes.

Image copyright Flying Colours Ltd./Getty Images

On Pinterest, all kinds of creative ideas show up on the group boards.  Just last year I shared this group board,  Mother's Day Gift Ideas that has expanded to many new pins for handmade cards and vases.

Your group board can be shared on other social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter. Every time you pin an image, your family and friends can see what you're up to and join the Pinterest Group Boards. Pinterest does well to help share your ideas (hint: moms love flowers!).

That's Caring, the eco-friendly online shop has gift baskets again this year but my favorite is still a popular pin on Pinterest for mom,  titled "There is No Way to Be a Perfect Mother but a Million Ways to be a Good One." Another favorite, it's from Shop to be Green, is a handmade pillow with felt cutouts, "Call Your Mother."

Contributors to the gift ideas group board come from different commerce and nonprofit sites, including That's Caring, Fair Trade USA and crafters, whose work links back to their website or blog. By "following" the Pinterest group board, users are able to add pins to the group board.

The benefits for all to participate in shared group boards on Pinterest not only for Mother's Day but other holidays and occasions throughout the year can have a lasting effect.

Image copyright Phil Ashley/Getty Images

Fascinating how video can capture our spirit and emotions, like the opening of the Superbowl. But what is it about video storytellers who tell human interest stories--what can they see that most other people miss altogether?

Eager students tell life changing stories through video in Video Storytelling for the Web (VSW), a class taught at City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. I will have to ask this question of Bob Sacha, award winning multimedia producer and adjunct professor of the video storytelling class.

I believe video has the active ingredient to capture the good in ugly, the calm amidst confusion, the hope in despair. Perhaps you want to share the experience as you have. Some student examples from Sacha's class are shown on Vimeo--and who see what most of us don't see.

In my article this week, I would like to bring your attention to user generated content (UGC), the sometimes awe inspiring human experiences people share on social media and submit to news organizations. Human interest stories need to be encouraged.

If video storytelling is a craft, like carpentry or cooking, then its art and mechanics need to be refined, too. UGC is the new social norm, so why not make it great?

Photo copyright Martin Barraud/Getty Images

Herb Kelleher is a man to reckon with. Kelleher's former role as CEO in Southwest Airlines has become iconic. In Kelleher's interview on FORTUNE, he shared a few tidbits of his management style. Kelleher's wisdom--stay out of the employees way. No secret really, he feels when there are problems he steps in to help solve them.

My book review of Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration digs into how to organize Great Groups for excellence. Author Warren Bennis, pioneer in modern leadership and coauthor Patricia Ward Biederman studied seven groups. These Great Groups are what drives our quest for innovation. Organizing Genius has been around for a couple of decades but the authors' vision for Great Groups is timeless.

So what's up for tomorrow? That's up to the Great Groups that you will want to organize, in a similar way like Southwest Airlines. The book depicts the company in one of their take home lessons I've summarized--inspire group for a mission on deadline.

What's also interesting in the FORTUNE interview is Kelleher's mention of airlines consolidation and the dynamics of change, as airlines spot gaps in the market, much like the authors of Organizing Genius say of the expertise required to run Great Groups.

CEO Gary Kelly has run Southwest Airlines since 2008 and continued the company on a path for growth with its acquisition and integration of AirTran. Southwest Airlines stock (LUV) hit a 52-week high in two consecutive weeks.

Logo Copyright 2013 Southwest Airlines Co.

Nasty comments make up less than ten percent of what appears online, says Tamara Little, CEO of eModeration, a social media management agency, mentioned in an article published online at Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine. But ten percent is a disturbing amount of negative exposure for your online site. Since the article was published, statistics on comments may have changed, but the negative effects may not.

A recent research study of negative comments online, conducted at the Science, Media, and the Public lab of the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that rudeness through tone and blatant comments may actually polarize visitors to scientific topics (the test environment) appearing in online news media and blogging sites.

Have negative comments online affected your impression of a topic discussed online? The business of moderating comments have become necessary for high profile brands who employ companies like eModeration and others, mentioned in the Businessweek article.

But many companies will rely on their own staff to moderate comments. My article about the Wisconsin study is a subtle reminder for educators and professionals that public sites and even online communities that open comments to outsiders, do require continuous moderation. Site management may involve some risk, but to achieve the desired peer-to-peer participation, using online moderators is the recommended approach.

From many collaborative sources, I can also see where community monitoring and lively comments are why people frequently turn to them, especially on food related topics. In my recent article How to Collaborate Online with Great Cooks, I found passionate readers who participate in positive ways. We need to also consider the power of sharing what you know, to make things better--even great cooks do.

According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute report, more than 1.5 billion people are on social networking sites.

Because of the rapid adoption of social technologies in the past several years, this has created opportunities in business. McKinsey's report suggests more than a trillion dollars annually may be unlocked in knowledge worker productivity on a transformational scale.

Social technologies, namely collaboration tools can foster knowledge sharing and collaboration to liberate huge gains in productivity. Read about these types of collaboration tools and the organizational changes that can directly impact activities in the enterprise.

Also there are privacy and data security concerns in both public and private social networks. Read FAQs about public and private social networks.