Culture of Collaboration

In my company we call information that is known but not documented “tribal knowledge” and there is a surprising amount of this tribal knowledge floating around; unaccounted for and essentially only recorded in the mind and memory of existing employees. This information can disappear when an employee leave and this means time and resources are spent trying to figure out how to resolve an issue. There is also a lot of the this-is-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it-so-it’s-the-right-way mentality, where change isn’t explored or embraced, which means we have outdated processes or under/over qualified employees managing the process in an ineffective manner. These two things seem to interfere with the culture of collaboration needed to transform in to a learning enterprise. “Collaboration centers on the relationships we have with people or the potential relationships we can build with people. Right now there isn’t an effective way to match our relationships to the work we do” (Morgan, 2012).

Sometimes it feels like employees don’t collaborate because this tribal knowledge or information hoarding is perceived to provide some sense of job security. Perhaps it does in some cases. But I’ve seen a lot of restructure in the company lately, and some people that seemed above a reorg are no longer working for my company. Collaboration is necessary for a company to grow and the character and personalities of the individual needs to align with the technology available to facilitate a better level of communication and documentation.

I would like to see my organization shift towards a stronger culture of collaboration, using technology and human resources to document and revise current processes. This could be done with SharePoint, a wiki or even in the cloud….as long as it gets people working together and not duplicating efforts. “The future collaboration platform will be able to match the people we are connected to with the work we do, or the people that we should be connected to with the work that we do” (Morgan, 2012).

Morgan, J. (2012). The collaborative organization. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill.

Downside of Being Engaged in the Social Stream

The lack of privacy online is something that concerns me. Actually, over the last few months I’ve come to realize that there is essentially zero online privacy, especially in the world of social media. So while it’s clever that when you post a picture on Facebook it magically suggests the names of other people for you to tag in the picture, I’m not relieved about not having to look them up (I’m actually a little freaked out some times) because Facebook uses “facial recognition software that uses an algorithm to calculate a unique number (“template”) based on someone’s facial features, like the distance between the eyes, nose and ears. This template is based on your profile pictures and photos you’ve been tagged in on Facebook” (Facebook, 2013). Even worse – in my opinion – is Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of Face.com, which means that your face is now in a facial recognition database along with billions of other people, as “of February, 2011, the company (Face.com) had “discovered” 18 billion faces across its API and Facebook applications” (Wikipedia, 2014). In addition to social media tracking you AND with the government playing along, other uses for facial recognition technology include “identifying potential online daters, facial scans to unlock your cell phone, uses for law enforcement tools and “at a store, rather than paying with cash or a credit card, you give a “meaningful nod” to a scanner to make a purchase” (Torgovnick May, 2013).

“Because facial recognition can be used covertly to identify and track people by name at a distance, some civil liberties experts call it unequivocally intrusive. In view of intelligence documents made public by Edward Snowden, they also warn that once companies get access to such data, the government could, too. ‘This is you as an individual being monitored over time and your movements and habits being recorded,’ says Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for privacy issues at the American Civil Liberties Union. ‘That is a very scary technological reality’” (Singer, 2014).

With this in mind, I’ve seriously ratcheted back my use of Facebook, as well as Twitter and Instagram. I have asked my friends to not tag me in photos – even though the cat is essentially already out of the bag – and will continue to evaluate how I move forward in the social stream.

References:

Facebook. (2013). How does facebook suggest tags?. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/help/122175507864081

Singer, N. (2014, February 1). When no one is just a face in the crowd. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/technology/when-no-one-is-just-a-face-in-the-crowd.html?_r=0

Torgovnick May , K. (2013, October 17). The future of facial recognition: 7 fascinating facts. Retrieved from http://blog.ted.com/2013/10/17/the-future-of-facial-recognition-7-fascinating-facts/

Wikipedia. (2014). Face.com. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face.com

Becoming a Social Organization

I’ve been considering how best to expand my social organization in a way that will be of the best benefit to my department (Retail Marketing) and in doing the reading this week I think I can tap in to Chatter to expand my visibility to the field sales team and create a better dialogue with those working outside the office. At this point in time Chatter is generally only used to post pictures of beer displays or events we are participating in. Most of the current images posted are done by the field sales representative and is pretty much the place they have “bragging rights” to show what they’re independently working on around the country.

My role in my company is the management of all point-of-sale items, which means one day I’m sourcing a neon sign and t-shirts, and next day searching for a new suite of coasters and glassware for a bar promotion. I have admittedly underutilized the Chatter feature of Sharepoint as a visual communication tool and I want to become more proactive in the sales and placement of the POS, as opposed to be reactive when the outside sales force contacts me. In The Social Organization, Bradley and McDonald offer a section on how to develop an organizational vision for community collaboration, and I’ll filter my plans for collaborations improvement through the four activities outlined on page 31:

• Understand when community collaboration is appropriate
• Know where community collaboration is more likely to deliver value
• Apply and understanding of your organization’s goals and culture
• Craft an organizational vision for community collaboration 

I can see the value in utilizing Chatter to promote the Retail Marketing items, and helping sales fulfills the 2014 organizational goals of growing top and bottom line growth. With this new direction I spent time this morning logging in to Chatter – something I haven’t done in AT LEAST six months – and followed every person in my company, from the CEO down to the replenishment planners and graphic designers. My plan is to spend the next week logging in to Chatter and really looking and cataloging what people are posting. There is a section for “What the Competition is Doing” and that will be a good place for me to get ideas for new products. Once I’ve had a chance to review what is being posted, I will start doing some posting myself. Every week – if not daily – I have new point-of-sale items I can post a picture of, which will let the sales team know these items are out there and help create interest. Further, I can use this as an outlet to push some of the older, slower selling items I have collecting dust on the warehouse shelves . I am also going to review this with my manager and see if there is a solid platform to create a Retail Marketing Group in Chatter, and get the support of the field managers to encourage their team to follow us. I think this can turn in to a pretty awesome organizational collaboration tool.

In a way, it’s sad this hasn't been done already because it seems like such a fast and easy, non-intrusive way to communicate to the field and help move items that help sell beer.

References:
Bradley, A., & McDonald, M. (2011). The social organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Anonymity, Mass Collaboration and the Social Organization

From the reading I was very interested in the successful CEMEX example from The Social Organization, where CEMEX “initiated a program called SHIFT that used social media to create a community around each of the company’s strategic initiatives” (Bradley & McDonald, 2011).I would be very interested in exploring the possibility of doing something similar in my organization, as we have five brewery locations – as well as a hundred remote employees around the United States – and engaging the entire company in discussions around sales, performance or production goals would most likely generate strong collaborative discussions.

This type of mass collaboration could have tremendous benefits as my organization has greatly benefited from creative solutions presented by employees in the past. We are currently going through some reorganizational processes and the timing is right to collect ideas for areas of improvement, refocus or critical analysis. This is particularly true as much of the restructure is happening at the top of the organization which is where expectation gaps exist as upper management does not want or need to dive too deeply in to the processes; however those are still the roles responsible for some of the larger decision making and where unrealistic changes or goals are made. An effective mass collaboration amongst the various layers/levels of departments ay mitigate the “disconnect between management levels that causes animosity, poor moral, and an inability to get things done efficiently and effectively” (Woods, 2013).

I’m curious about how transparent the social collaboration would need to be to optimize the success of a mass collaboration effort. Despite being a respectful organization, my company has had issues in the past with silo busting and personal prejudice. An endeavor of using social media to draw collective ideas from employees would most likely be best received if the posts and comments were anonymous, eliminating an idea being discredited simply by the person or position in the organization making the suggestion. I don’t believe someone needs to work a department to make an observation about possible areas for improvement, and I could see how a suggestion from someone in Brewing could easily be disregarded by someone in Sales because there is a perception of being ignorant or uneducated in the responsibilities or tasks of that group. Alternatively, some of the best suggestions for improvement can come from someone not yet or not well respected within a department, and the anonymity would allow the ideas and feedback within the company to be considered without prejudice within the cycle of collaboration.

References:

Bradley, A., & McDonald, M. (2011). The social organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Woods, L. (2013, March 4). Overcoming disconnect between middle & upper management. Retrieved from http://www.managingamericans.com/BlogFeed/Leadership-Teambuilding/Overcoming-Disconnect-Between-Middle-Upper-Management.htm