The Collaboration Tool "Tipping Point"?

A significant question for the times is: What is required for a group of people to take the plunge and try using collaboration tools for a major project?

Many business people I talk with tell me something along the lines of:  "I like the idea of using modern collaboration tools, but I am afraid to take the plunge for my company.  I fear the start-up time involved and resistance from my co-workers will make it a bad experience.  How do I get started and overcome this?"  These people are trying to get themselves and their co-workers past the tipping point, where using the tools becomes the new routine.

Once most people have a positive experience, they choose to use the tools next time.  And when there is a boss or leader on the team who believes in the use of the tools, those people can generally push the use of tools and expose a new group of people to the benefits.  So without a strong sponsor, how will you get your group to try the tools?

I have found a persuasive analogy that will sometimes help make the case, although this particular analogy may work best for the over-40 crowd.  Remember the first time you had a choice between doing a financial spreadsheet by hand versus using an electronic spreadsheet program?  My first experience was VisiCalc.  Most of us weighed the extra time it was going to take to learn the tool and build the model, and many stayed with the paper spreadsheet just out of familiarity.  In many cases the combination of learning and building the model meant the electronic version took up to twice as long as the paper version.

For those of us who created the electronic version though, our first "ah ha" moment came when a boss or team member suggested we run new scenarios with different assumptions.  We quickly saw, after one or two new runs, we were ahead of the game on time investment relative to the paper method.  We also often gained a breakthrough insight with one of the extra runs, and realized we would not likely have tried those different assumptions if we had stayed with the paper method.  So the improvements were measured more by increased effectiveness than improved efficiency; the tool made new things possible and became a core process.

Many users of collaboration tools describe similar breakthrough learnings.  They often point out that team members just have to stop doing narrow efficiency calculations, take the plunge, and see first-hand how the collaboration benefits in ways no one could have planned.

How have you benefited from using collaboration tools?  How did your group get past the tipping point?

Update on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

See Related Posts:

• Keep it simple on the collaboration tools
• Finally, Effective Advertising for Collaboration
• Open Letter to Collaboration Tool Providers
• Long Shadows of Collaboration Tools
• Team Leader Must Lead THROUGH the Tools
• A Taxonomy of Collaboration Tools

Comments

[Heckner]

Hi,

I read your article and just want to add a few ideas coming into my mind.

I think the point is that the tool itself needs to be as simple as possible. There are lots of tools which offer tons of functions. But collaboration does not happen because there is a tool with lots of nifty features, but because it's necessary to create results in a team. So I think simplicity is king. And I think collaboration happens in meetings (whether real meetings or virtual meetings). So good collaboration tools concentrate on three issues

--> Provide information to the relevant people
--> Assign tasks to a person
--> Make decisions transparent

Thats all whats needed.

Just my 2 cents

Regards
Hannes

[Lamont]

I completely agree with Hannes that simplicity and training are critical elements of launching a new program. In addition, a leader who sets up the workspace well and keeps it clean will make it easier for users.
Whatever can be done to make it a positive experience will in many cases create a group of new "converts" who will value collaboration tools and apply them to their next project.

[Lokesh Datta]

Comments from LinkedIn on this post:

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By Owen Burritt

Hello, interesting article! It is true that there are a number of tools out there for collaboration and the number of organizations who are looking into the Web 2.0 or social software tools is increasing rapidly. What we find is that if there is a specific use case for the type of tool and if it adapts to the user, they will start and continue to utilize the tool. Otherwise, as we've all seen, if these things don't happen, the adoption rate declines quickly or they don't come at all.