Top 5 Pitfalls for Collaboration Programs and Platforms

Why deployment of social collaboration platforms may not gain sufficient traction?

(& what can be done to maximise engagement and outcomes?)

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with some tools and techniques which will accelerate their organisations performance, towards the leadership position in their space, enabling significant changes in how people work and collaborate. In addition to ensure that investment in social collaboration platforms gains maximum traction and avoids the major pitfalls. Underpinning the approach is recognition that collaboration and collaboration maturity are complex human behaviours and, that deployment of social connection platforms to release an organisations talent will not deliver unless they are underpinned by very high levels of organisation maturity and learning. There has been a general recognition in business that there is a strong Organisation Development (OD) element to accelerating collaboration , however there is a tendency to be  driven by the simple definition of collaboration behaviours such as “it’s about trust, sharing of goals and communications” and using SNA measurements as indicators. The reality is there are 20 core OD dynamics that influence collaboration maturity and outcomes, and in the paper we introduce a simple diagnostic to measure these so that personal, organisation and platform development can be aligned for maximum traction.

Top Five Pitfalls for deployment

1.        Failure to sufficiently recognise that we are enabling a change in how people work together and as such the deployment of collaboration strategies and platforms is an important organisation development activity.

2.        Failure to recognise that collaboration is a human activity and human system activity; it’s about people, their style, their behaviours, their motivations and their incentives.

3.        Deployment of social media collaboration platforms are often treated as an IT or System upgrade projects rather than core business change initiatives.

4.        Failure to create an explicit and strong connection to the business case, goals and KPI’s of the business in the eyes of the stakeholders.

5.        The absence of a suitable framework to deploy a collaboration strategy and attain the target ROI.

Though there are many other pitfalls they are generally covered if we adopt a collaboration strategy that addresses the top five pitfalls. So we can say that the critical success factors for successful deployment of a collaboration strategy and platform are as follows:-

1.        Establish the business case for collaboration up front and identify how the organisation will demonstrate that performance meets or exceeds the business case.

2.        Define the collaboration OD strategy across the business that connects the business case with individual and organisation development plans.

3.        Measure the collaboration maturity across the organisation; it becomes the base-line for selecting and deploying the level and type of interventions and actions that will allow maximum traction for new ways of working and the platform.

4.        Integrate the social media collaboration platform Adopt an overall collaboration Framework/Methodology to pull together the components of the collaboration strategy and allows the stakeholders to engage and influence.

5.        project into the overall strategic OD program. Aligning the enablement of features and functions with the other interventions that reflect the level of organisation and individual learning.

The Global Institute for advanced organisation learning “collaboration framework“(collaborationIP™)

The CollaborationIP™ Methodology

CollaborationIP™ Methodology Components

The overall methodology is a roadmap and a set of tools, processes, templates and guides designed to successfully guide an organisation through the process of strategic change towards creating a leadership zone position where the collaboration maturity is creating sustainable strategic and operational leadership. Each Domain has the appropriate tools for an organisation. Let us now review each core domain. Built into the framework and methods are best practice collaboration techniques for the organisations leadership to design and execute the program. So in-build will be leadership by example and learning from the leaders.

CIP™-Business

Objective: - To enable key stakeholders to identify the key business drivers and performance metrics that accelerating collaboration capability is designed to impact, and prepare a business case and a set of business controls to ensure during and on completion of a collaboration program that intended outcomes can be achieved within the investment scope approved.

Approach Recommended: - Workshop & Templates

This domain has three key deliverables:-

·         The Business Case for Collaboration

·         The collaboration KPI Integration Map

·         Collaboration Program Metric process

CIP™-Facilitation

Objective: - To identify CSF’s & Risks for the overall program and confirm stakeholder commitment, governance and support for all aspects of the program and related investment.

Approach Recommended: - Workshop & Templates

This domain has three key deliverables:-

·         The program vision & Goals

·         The core governance & facilitation structure

·         Program Role definitions

CIP™-Diagnosis

Objective: - To scientifically diagnose the level of collaboration maturity within the organisation to enable program interventions to be designed at an appropriate and sustainable learning level. In additional to maintain alignment on the 3 core programs (Personal, Organisation & Platform).

Approach Recommended: - On-Line

This domain has three key deliverables:-

·         Collaboration Diagnostic Plan

·         Collaboration Maturity Diagnostic report (Actual level, steps for next level)

·         Collaboration Maturity Dashboard

CIP™-Strategy

Objective: - Using the findings from the Diagnosis phase the key stakeholders can now refine the overall strategy so that relevant execution-able and integrated programs and metrics can be executed.

Approach Recommended: - Workshop & Templates

This domain has one key deliverable:-

·         Collaboration Program and Project Statement

CIP™-Programs (Personal, Organisation, Platform)

Objective:- create the plan, process, tools, KPI’s  and teams for each of the three key streams and kick off the integrated programs:-

Approach Recommended: - Workshop & Templates

This domain has the following deliverables: - (Normally adopting the organisations standard PM methods)

·         Project Plans and Milestones

·         Reports and metrics

CIP™- Progress

Objective:- Integrated into the model and referenced above is the need to ensure stakeholders can see progress and connect their actions and behaviours to accelerating collaboration maturity at all levels in the business this will include:-

·         Business KPI’s

·         Operational KPI’s

·         Collaboration KPI’s and Social Network analysis

·         Maturity and cultural indicator

Approach Recommended: - PMO & Templates

The top 10 tips for successful start-up's

OVERVIEW

Starting a new business is both exciting and risky. Over the past few years I have met with many entrepreneurs and reviewed many business plans. Tremendous talent and creativity exists in our society and technology is enabling innovation whether it be products, processes, or services. However the time to realize the value of the promoters’ investment is influenced by a huge amount of variables and these tips are designed to give some pointers to entrepreneurs considering a new venture or in the early stages of start up.

     Validate Market; you must prove that a market exists and define it, i.e. ID customers, groups, size and spend. Is it static? declining? or growing? It’s more attractive if  it’s growing because you are not trying to take a share from a competitor. A good business idea does not mean there is a market, and only in very rare circumstances are you creating a new market.

     Confirm Competition; if there is no competition it is likely there is no market. The biggest competitive threat for start up’s is the potential that a client will do nothing, because they do not see your value proposition.

     Define Business Model;   Have a clear and defined business model (How we make money!). Model it, identify revenue and cost drivers and convert to a P & L. Make sure you have a primary revenue stream, it confirms the business has a  focus.

     Carry out Feasibility;   before you invest significant, time and money, talk to the target customers and market, present your business and confirm the market exists and the proposed value proposition is accepted.

    Create a Team; rarely will the initial promoter (s) have all the skills required to launch a successful business, know the gaps and how you will fill the gaps even on a temporary or part time basis.

     Engage with Public Support Mechanisms:  There are many supports available, not just financial, but advisory, marketing and incubation programs, find the ones that suit your business and engage early with them. (EI, INI, BIC’s, Trade Associations – in Ireland).

     Prepare a 10 page business plan; any less and your analysis and detail are likely to be incomplete, much more and your focus is likely to be suboptimal. The business plan helps stakeholders understand the roadmap and milestones you (They) are committing to.

     Don’t boil the ocean; Focus on core business and core model. Define the minimum spec. for your product or service to enter the market and get selling quickly. Customer and market feedback will help refine the plan. You will confirm customer value as they will be parting  with money, and you get to market quickly (Be Agile)

    Adopt good business practice; as appropriate for scale and maturity of business apply good process, practice and governance. It really pays back,  helps control the business performance and demonstrates to stakeholders it’s in control (avoids exit transaction issues)

   Adapt & Respond Don’t be afraid to change the business as you learn in the Market & Terminate the business quickly if it is failing

Collaboration & Collaboration Platforms

My web site http://www.collaborationip.yolasite.com/ now has the full white paper on collaboration and collaboration platforms, the top 10 tips on collaboration and the business case for investment in collaboration and collaboration platforms.

Top 10 Tips for successful Collaboration & Collaboration Platforms

Top 10 Tips for successful Collaboration & Collaboration Platforms

OVERVIEW

Collaboration is a human activity which takes place as part of the human systems in an organization. We understand that the culture and behaviors in an origination impact on the level and benefits of collaboration. We also understand that use of social media and collaboration platforms provide individuals and groups with tools to accelerate collaboration.

To release the talent within our organization and its interfaces with the external world enhancing collaboration and changing the way we work is essential. Based on research and experience we outline the top 10 critical success factors (In no order of priority as the maturity of each organization will require different priorities)

1.     Link to Business Goals; It’s important that any collaboration program has a business case connected to the organizations KPI’s. If innovation is goal revenue from new products may be a KPI.

2.     Identify Program KPI’s; there are program KPI’s that measure more directly the impact of collaboration interventions. Collaboration outcomes such as No of new products, reduced cycle times etc. or collaboration process No. of active communities, no of information entries etc.

3.     Understand current collaboration maturity; Allows focus on interventions and program activities to match organizations learning level.

4.     Create an OD change program enabled by IT;  This is a change management exercise with huge potential benefits and we know changing people’s behaviors and the way they work need careful facilitation

5.     Make collaboration a core cultural value;   a central behavior and” way we work” value that is rewarded.

6.     Training & Awareness; Enabling stakeholders to participate in the change and accelerate organization learning requires training and development for individuals and groups both interpersonal & on the tools.

7.     Select Integrated Platform;   in choosing tools to enable collaboration whether they are public domain social media or an organization platform make sure it supports and integrates with the culture as well as the current tool sets.

8.     Dedicated Leadership & Facilitation ;  A critical success factor is that the leaders “walk the talk”, a senior executive is accountable and most importantly there are new roles required to facilitate , mediate and support users in getting the best from the system as well as the normal technology support..

9.     Pilot & Proof of Concept;   Validate the program plan, cultural change goals and the technology. Create early success and implement the priority features.

10.   Publicize and Reward; A Where core outcomes are being realized.

For more information

declan.kavanagh@deckav.com

myles@holignment.com

Collaboration Maturity Diagnosis

The Importance of cost effective marketing for start-ups

What is an appropriate integrated Marketing approach for start-up?

I frequently meet with start-up entrepreneurs and,  in discussion or review of business plans often find that their focus on marketing is at either end of the spectrum, and only rarely calibrated to the maturity of the business. At one end “Marketing is not important for now and/or a very expensive activity with limited return” or “Marketing is so important we have 50% of our budget dedicated to a whole range of activities” and rarely is the Marketing Plan correctly supporting the business goals, aligned with the business maturity and integrated in a cost effective manner with the operational plan for the next period.

Firstly it’s important not to mix up market research with marketing. Market Research is a set of activities that entrepreneurs should complete before committing to a business and on a regular basis to make sure the plan and business remains relevant to the goals of the organisation. Marketing on the other hand, may have many purposes but I think there are two that start-ups should focus on;

·         Starting or building a brand

·         Generation of appropriate sales leads

I believe that marketing is the early stage in a process of creating a relationship with a client and feeding an input into a system and process that ends up with a happy client for the product and/or service the business offers and money in the bank.

1.       Brand: - In its simplest form it’s what do you want the market and individuals to think when they hear your name, your company name and/or product name: - Usually it’s one or more value judgments that are perceived as why you are different and why I should seriously consider buying from you.

2.       Leads: - A lead is any interaction from a prospective customer either proactively or in response to any intervention you may make in the market place that has the potential to convert to a profitable sale.

a.       A Marketing Lead is an input perhaps as a response to a marketing intervention that marketing checks out to see if it’s a real sales lead, if it is it gets promoted to the sales process for qualification , if not it gets returned to the marketing list.

b.      A Sales lead can come from many sources, its an indication there may be a prospect in or moving into buying mode. It needs to be qualified as an opportunity, ie  Is the customer buying?  Have they budget ? Is the timeline in the horizon?  Have we a competitive offer?  Once qualified the core sales cycle starts with a view to closing a sale.

When should new business start marketing?

If we consider the two primary goals of marketing above, then firstly we must have clarity on the problem we will solve for the client or the value of the opportunity we can bring to the client. We also must be able to supply the product or service in sufficient volume to meet the market demands that we might create. This does not mean we have to supply all features, functions or services we are planning to bring to market, however we need to be able to supply a defined limited set of these that address why the client has become a lead. For example if our business proposition is some form of social media Software as a Service underpinned by certain free features and upgraded to additional pay as you use features, then we must have available the basic software platform that as a minimum users see value in and will engage with and perhaps one or two of the planned pay for features. In time and with learning we may add all sorts of additional pay for features and revenue streams.

We also need to have a clear understanding of our core competence, core offering and how it is unique and different from the competition. What are the unique selling points that provide advantage over the competition and are different?

Beware of the following:-

·         It’s a new market, we have first mover advantage, and there is no competition. There is always competition and failure to have this mind set regularly leads to failure. It may be something very new and creating some new market segment, but the customer can always do nothing and not buy, also though there may be significant innovation and early advantage it will not be long before there are competitors if it’s a real market opportunity.

·         Beware of a long list of USP’s, it can dilute the message and brand. A good way to convey the message is a matrix comparing your product/service USP’s with those of your competitors, show what is common and show what is different.

·         Focus on your core defined, customer, offering and competence and identify the one major uniqueness that is your prime differentiator and will become part of your brand “The fastest, the highest Quality, The cheapest (beware of this one)..etc.

There are 2 major components of marketing:-

·         Content:- This is the core data and information required to support a marketing plan and program, it is the fundamental stuff , the messages, the details of your company, product/service, how you delivery, the value and propositions etc. There is equally as much investment and effort required here as there is in the actual marketing activities.  The source of this information is largely you the promoter and,  your team who are the subject matter experts.

·         Activities:- These are all the other activities, deliverables and plans that require a degree of professional experience and expertise and for start-ups usually require some level of 3^rd party support.

What start-ups need to be good at is extracting the core content in a cost effective manner,  to be provided to the marketing professional who converts it into meaningful and useful content,  and activities that support achieving the marketing goals.

So in summary it’s important to have a marketing strategy and plan at the point you are going to market and ready to sell, and that the content is available for the marketing interventions.

Marketing is a process

Just as with any other process it’s important to make sure the various components and activities of the marketing process are aligned and integrated. I will use a few terms here, so for clarity I will explain:-

Marketing Plan:- 12 month operational plan designed to support the business goals. State what we expect marketing investment to deliver each quarter, have metrics weekly and quarterly. Project plan for the interventions.

Marketing Campaign:- Is a mini marketing plan that is more focused on shorter term objectives perhaps to launch a product, or target a specific segment, or to secure a reference in geography as examples.

CRM:- Customer Relationship Management is the process whereby we record and manage details of our relationship and engagement with our potential customers and customers.

Marketing Lead:- Details of any Target customer and related future opportunity if any in whom we have identified and we want to create a relationship. Marketing Leads come together as part of our core marketing lists we use for campaigns and interventions. They are extremely important because regardless of how many sales calls we make or promotions to the market only a small number of potential clients will be in buying mode (i.e. in or about to enter a buying cycle), those that we identify as in buying mode go straight into our sales process as a lead. The majority will not be in buying mode and what we want to achieve is to regularly communicate and keep our value proposition in their consciousness so that when they do go into buying mode they will contact our company.

Marketing Lists:- These are specific target customer and customer details that may be categorised for specific campaigns and interventions relevant to their specific segment.

Marketing Intervention:- These are the specific actions or activities we have identified as having the maximum impact on achieving our marketing or campaign goals. They are like a menu of ingredients we can bring together to achieve specific marketing goals.

·         Events (Seminars, Conferences, Breakfast sessions)

·         Forums (Customer focus groups, advisory panels, etc.)

·         Web platforms and sites

·         Advertising

·         Sponsorship

·         Trade Association engagement

·         PR

·         Collateral – Brochures, White Papers, Case Studies, References

·         On-Line engagement, emails, blogs, wikis, social media, webinars

There are many different types of marketing interventions and you must select those interventions that are relevant to your business. Beware of stand-alone interventions. I have seen so many company seminars, where the whole focus is on the event itself, planning the session, getting the invites and confirmations, running the event and looking at what contacts were made on the day. This is an approach that fails to maximise ROI on the investment in that event. A more effective approach is as follows:-

·         The event itself must have goals and fit with the annual marketing plan.

·         The event itself requires a marketing plan

·         The process of managing attendees is part of relationship development, maximising the value they get from attendance. Have a plan for engagement with each attendee.

·         Seek as much feedback and engagement in the topic and the event

·         Immediately on completion of the event have a round table with all participants so that all leads, opportunities, suggestions can be considered and actions followed up.

·         Announce the next related event or intervention at the event

·         Update web site, social media sites within 24 hours

·         Feed everything into the core processes, sales, marketing, delivery etc.

The Sales & Marketing Pipe line and integrated process to be managed

A Sample Marketing Model

This is a model I have used in the past, it’s primarily designed for an ICT professional services company, however it’s a way to try visualise how you can make things fit together. The core of this model was to have a content rich Web site at the focal point and to use as many interventions as possible to drive traffic to the web site. The website is key for capturing potential customer information, for inclusion as a Marketing Lead, Sales Lead or Sales opportunity. In addition the details can now be included on the organisations marketing list to start building the relationship (with the potential customer’s permission).

Managing Marketing in a start up

The key is plan performance and measure performance and do this in a way that is integrated with your standard operational management processes. As you would review Sales, Delivery, Development, Finances weekly, monthly and quarterly make sure you do the same with marketing.

Keep track of interventions and response to interventions:-

Marketing can also track the marketing and sales pipeline drawing the raw data from CRM or whatever spread sheet it is being tracked on:-

Tips for controlling start-up marketing costs

·         When preparing content prepare it in a way that can have multiple uses.

·         Re use content, for example a case study or white paper, can be a paper for a speaking engagement, can be a piece in an e-zine, can be collateral on the web site, can be a proposition for social media engagement.

·         Engage with key trade and state organisations , they provide opportunity to communicate and network with target markets.

·         Sponsor and participate in the events of others can be more cost effective than organising your own event.

·         Leverage open source and also freemium IT/web applications, you can build your own web site for free, social media groups are free to join and contribute.

·         Engage a really experience Marketing professional to advise and oversee the program, 1 or 2 days per week/month can deliver much higher value than hiring a graduate.

·         Measure impact of interventions and quickly stop doing those that do not deliver a return.

·         Don’t start with big brand suppliers of related services, they are good but expensive. There are many one man bands and small companies that would deliver appropriate expertise and services at lower costs.

Collaboration Maturity & Collaboration Platforms

How do we release talent within & across organisations (Collaboration)?

With the advent of social media and collaboration platforms, the tools available to leaders and managers have become sophisticated and powerful.  However the ability of organisations to effectively deploy and realise the potential of these new tools can be hampered by the culture, structure and processes within the organisation.

To compete or even to survive many knowledge based organisations need to accelerate innovation, creativity, knowledge sharing /re use and productivity. Increasing the productive engagement of stakeholders whether it be within and organisation or with external stakeholders leveraging the available tools requires a change in how we work.

The purpose of a collaboration platform is:-

a)      Speeding up Responsiveness

b)      Facilitating Innovation

c)       Enhancing Learning

d)      Growing the competence mass of the organization

e)      Increasing the capacity and speed of organizational intelligence

f)       Improving Involvement and Sharing Responsibility

Primary areas for organisation consideration are:-

b)      Enterprise 2.0 - Inside the organization to improve:

a)      efficiency and productivity

c)       B2C 2.0 - Connecting with customers/stakeholders to improve

a)      profitability and customer satisfaction

Organisations are fundamentally human systems made up of people, communities and teams and therefore are the core to any change to accelerate overall performance. Managers and Leaders when designing interventions whether Organisation development or Introducing change such as new technology often omit to take into account the organisation maturity and behavioural capacity of the individuals and teams within.

Why is organisation Development a key component to collaboration?

Because getting the most from the product is as much a people/organizational issue as a technical issue -

¡  Collaboration is an interpersonal activity & should be introduced & managed accordingly – otherwise, it will fail

¡  It is the most complex form of organizational activity and needs an O-D & Change-Management approach

¡  It has the greatest capacity for organizational transformation of any O-D intervention

¡  It can be truly systemic in scope – from customer to production and all stakeholders, functions, etc.

n  “The system is the product”

¡  Systemic Collaboration offers Organizational Advantage, which is best achieved through an Organization-Development approach

¡  Organizational Effectiveness improves performance, retention and sustainable growth

The power and features  of new technologies (Collaborative Platforms, such as Lotus Connections, MS SharePoint, Facebook, Mindtouch etc.) facilitate knowledge creation and re use. The ability to create communities, facilitate rapid identification of a person, expertise or information, make the process of innovation and collaboration be time and location independent can really accelerate the performance and creativity of an organisation.

Deploying these new platforms is not just an IT project and regardless of how mature and effective your IT management processes are, you may fail to leverage the benefits if you do not consider the organisation development factors.

COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY + COLLABORATION MATURITY = COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM

The level of collaborative maturity differs from organisation to organisation, so how do we measure it, in order that our program to roll out a collaborative platform may include appropriate OD interventions, whether they are education, awareness, structure, coaching, facilitation etc. Most Models out there such as CMMi or ISO are descriptive and require a significant commitment, they are not based on the fundamental principles of human systems and human behaviour (And related psychology), they do not consider how humans and organisations learn and change.

However we now have a simple scientific model that allows prompt and effective measurement of the collaboration maturity in an organisation so that any project/program to accelerate innovation, productivity and knowledge sharing leveraging collaboration platform(s) can have the OD interventions and components built into the program.

The Collaboration Maturity Model

n  THE PROBLEM for optimising Collaboration has been identified: it IS getting people to use it, i.e. TRACTION

n  The Model was  DESIGNED with one thing in mind – TO GAIN TRACTION for interventions

n  It does this by measuring the level of organizational functioning so that it can be raised across the board to the required level to optimise collaboration

n  No other framework exists to cater for both organizational diagnosis and intervention guidance

The model is underpinned by human science research and the primary inputs to the model are based on on-line questionnaires that can be completed by participants within 20 minutes.

The outputs of the Model are 1. A report on the maturity level in your organisation on all key dimensions of collaboration, and recommended OD interventions to support your overall collaboration business program.  2. A visual dashboard of the maturity on all dimensions of collaboration maturity.

As well as providing guidance on the OD elements of a program, it also provides a benchmark that can be conducted periodically to ensure the interventions and ant platform program are having the desired effect and ensure the correct timing for further/future OD interventions as an organisation drives towards the Leadership Zone.

How does it fit in the deployment of a collaboration platform?

1.       Business decision to improve collaboration

2.       Business goals and business case for program

a.       Financial, Creativity, Productivity..etc.

b.      New Products/services , cycle times, lead times

c.       Maturity dimensions

3.       Measure collaborative Maturity

a.       On Line questionnaire & reports

b.      Small number of interviews/workshops

c.       Confirm threshold has been reached (Research to date suggests an organisation must be in or entering the learning zone before any platform investment is made)

d.      Design interventions

4.       Create Platform roll out program and project plan

5.       Execute plan

6.       Measure KPI’s and maturity to ensure benefits are being realised.

A Key consideration

To achieve the overall objectives , these new techniques for working as individuals and teams must become central to the leadership and management culture and require on-going support and facilitation. (More on this in the future)