Creating Collaboration Takes More Than Technology

Why Collaboration Tools Alone Won’t Transform Your Organization

Culture Comes Before Technology

Evan Rosen wrote a nice article in Business Week titled “Creating Collaboration Takes More Than Technology.”

Synopsis

In a typical scenario, the months fly by after the collaboration tools are implemented. As the seasons change, decision-makers anticipate reaping the benefits of collaboration. And perhaps they can even point to successes within particular business units or functions.

Often, though, it’s the same old story. The company remains for the most part internally competitive, hierarchical, and command-and-control driven. The tools alone have failed to make the company collaborative.

Worse yet, the tools may have created no real value, and the decision-makers who had pinned such high hopes on these tools are surprised. Are the tools the problem? More likely, the problem is the organization. When tools fail to create value, it’s usually because decision-makers adopt tools before the company’s culture and processes are collaboration-ready.

Organizations even adopt tools for the wrong reasons, primarily the belief that tools will create collaboration. Tools merely offer the potential for collaboration. Unlocking the value of tools happens only when an organization fits tools into collaborative culture and processes.

If the culture is hierarchical and internally competitive, it will take more than tools to shift the culture. Just because a competitor uses collaborative tools doesn’t mean the time is right for your organization to do likewise. If the competitor is apparently deriving value from tools, maybe it’s because the competitor’s culture is more collaborative and the tools are extending and enhancing the culture.

Recommendations

To help fix the issue, he recommends the following:

Focus on Culture Before Tools

Fit Tools into Business Processes

Adopt Spontaneous Work Styles

Use Tools to Develop Products and Services

Give the Entire Organization Access to the Same Tools

Tools ≠ Collaboration

Technology alone can’t create a collaborative environment

Culture First

Address hierarchical and competitive cultures before implementing tools

Integrated Approach

Align tools with business processes and organizational needs

Join the Conversation

Have you experienced the implementation of collaboration tools that failed to meet expectations? What cultural changes were needed first?

What They Don’t Teach You In Design School

What They Don’t Teach You in Design School

Paula Scher on the Real Value of Design

Another thing they don’t teach you in design school is what you get paid for…

Mostly, designers get paid to negotiate the difficult terrain of individual egos, expectations, tastes, and aspirations of various individuals in an organization or corporation, against business needs, and constraints of the marketplace…

Getting a large, diverse group of people to agree on a single new methodology for all of their corporate communications means the designer has to be a strategist, psychiatrist, diplomat, showman, and even a Svengali. The complicated process is worth money. That’s what clients pay for.

— Paula Scher

Strategist

Psychiatrist

Diplomat

Showman

Svengali

About Paula Scher

Paula Scher is one of the most influential graphic designers in the world. She has been a principal in the New York office of Pentagram since 1991 and has designed identity and branding systems for numerous major clients including Citibank, Microsoft, and The Public Theater.

Your Thoughts?

Do you agree with Paula Scher’s assessment of what designers really get paid for? What other roles do you think designers play that aren’t taught in school?

Richard Branson: What Makes A Good Employee

The Wisdom of Richard Branson

On Self-Discipline in Business

Richard Branson

A self-disciplined employee will have the patience to conduct routine business routinely, the talent to respond exceptionally to exceptional circumstances, and the wisdom to know the difference.

— Richard Branson

Unpacking the Wisdom

Routine Excellence

The ability to consistently handle day-to-day responsibilities with care and attention to detail.

Exceptional Response

The capacity to rise to challenges, innovate solutions, and perform under pressure when needed.

Discerning Wisdom

The judgment to differentiate between situations that require standard procedures and those that demand creative approaches.

About Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson is a British entrepreneur and business magnate. He founded the Virgin Group in the 1970s, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields, including travel, entertainment, telecommunications, health, and space tourism.

Known for his adventurous spirit and unconventional leadership style, Branson has built a business empire while maintaining a focus on employee satisfaction, customer experience, and social responsibility. His approach to business combines bold risk-taking with practical wisdom about human nature and organizational behavior.

VIRGIN

Branson’s Leadership Principles

People First

Prioritize employee happiness to ensure exceptional customer service.

Embrace Risk

Be willing to take calculated chances and learn from failures.

Stay Curious

Continuously challenge the status quo and explore new opportunities.

Balance Fun & Work

Create environments where people enjoy what they do.

Applying This Wisdom

For Leaders

  • Encourage self-discipline by modeling it yourself
  • Create systems that support routine excellence
  • Recognize and reward both consistent performance and exceptional responses

For Teams

  • Establish clear expectations for routine tasks
  • Create space for creative problem-solving when circumstances demand
  • Develop collective wisdom through shared experiences and reflection

Your Thoughts?

How do you balance routine excellence with exceptional responses in your work? What helps you develop the wisdom to know which approach is needed?

Andrew Cosslet, CEO of InterContinental Hotels

Lessons from the Front Line

Wisdom from InterContinental Hotels CEO Andrew Cosslett

Adam Bryant
Photo by Earl Wilson

Interesting interview with Andrew Cosslett, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group, in Sunday’s New York Times in which he made a couple of observations pertinent to any business executive:

About Staying in Touch…

“I was about 24, I ended up with Unilever, and the first job was selling ice cream in Liverpool … I learned more in those nine months than I think I’ve ever learned since. Unilever used to test their graduates as they came in — they wanted to see if we had the stamina to hang around doing the more routine stuff. Are you going to be patient, and not be recognized as the bright young thing all the time?

“So I was given this job working for Wall’s Ice Cream, one of the subsidiaries of Unilever. I had 600 small shops to look after and a Ford Escort … The biggest thing I remember from those days, other than the utter loneliness of being a salesman with customers who abuse you all the time, was how much of what comes out of corporate offices is of absolutely no purpose, and how far removed some people are from the front line.

“I was out there expected to sell this ice cream in the middle of winter in Liverpool. It was pretty tough, and I was in there trying to sell these two-pound ice cream cakes because head office said that’s what we had to sell. I remember saying that if I ever get somewhere, I will never forget how this feels and this sense of remoteness. I now routinely test myself to make sure I’m not forgetting.”

Career Advice for the Young…

1. Leave Your Comfort Zone

“Leave home. Go as far away as possible from what you know. I think you’ve got to be tested, and you’ve got to test yourself. So my best career advice would be life advice. Go and find out who you are and what you can deal with and put yourself in some positions that will be distinctly uncomfortable. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone is a great learning in life.”

2. Keep Asking Questions

“The second would be: keep asking questions. There’s a lot of perceived wisdom in most industries that haven’t hasn’t been challenged for years. The trick in business is not to care too much. Because if you care too much, you won’t ask questions and you won’t challenge because you’ll care too much about your position and what someone’s thinking about you.

I was always relatively cavalier in my early career because I always thought if I don’t make it in business, I’ll go and do something else anyway. I always have given 100 percent to everything I’ve done, but I’ve always had a slightly maverick side that actually stood me in great stead, because it enabled me to ask those difficult questions and be the burr under the saddle.”

3. Have a Sense of Humor

“The third one is: have a sense of humor. It’s a lot easier to get through most things if you’ve got a smile on your face. It doesn’t have to be a chore. So just lighten up.”

Stay Connected

Never lose touch with front-line realities of your business

Challenge Assumptions

Question established wisdom and don’t fear being the maverick

Embrace Discomfort

Growth comes from leaving your comfort zone behind

EXPERIENCE • CHALLENGE • GROW

Your Thoughts?

Which of Andrew Cosslett’s pieces of advice resonates with you most? Have you had any “selling ice cream in Liverpool” moments in your career?

Pluralistic Ignorance & The False Consensus Effect

“In general, when we are unsure of ourselves, when the situation is unclear or ambiguous, when uncertainty reigns, we are most likely to look to and accept the actions of others as correct.” – Robert Cialdini

I just read about pluralistic ignorance, which I found fascinating.  According to Wikipedia it is: “A situation where a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume (incorrectly) that most others accept it… It is, in Krech and Crutchfield’s words, the situation where ‘no one believes, but everyone thinks that everyone believes. “This, in turn, provides support for a norm that may be, in fact, disliked by most people.

Pluralistic ignorance can be contrasted with the false consensus effect. In pluralistic ignorance, people privately disdain but publicly support a norm (or a belief), while the false consensus effect causes people to wrongly assume that most people think like them, while in reality most people do not think like them (and express the disagreement openly).

For instance, pluralistic ignorance may lead a student to drink alcohol excessively because he/she believes that everyone else does that, while in reality everyone else also wishes they could avoid binge-drinking, but no one expresses that due to the fear of being ostracized. A false consensus for the same situation would mean that the student believes that most other people do not enjoy excessive drinking, while in fact most other people do enjoy that and openly express their opinion about it.”

I’m sure my workplace is like yours and if that is true, I see pluralistic ignorance daily.  How great would our society and the companies we work for (or run) be if we publicly (not privately) rejected something we disagree with.  How great would it be if everyone realized everyone doesn’t think like us (note: I think I tend to suffer from the false consensus effect)?  Your way of thinking may not be popular, but privately others may actually be supporting what you disdain.  Is the secret to take a stand and speak up?  I’m still learning…

My $100,000 Friend

We’ve all heard the saying “a penny saved is a penny earned” but I don’t think too many people really stop and think about that.  I read this and thought how true it is.  Make smart decisions in life everyone.  I’ve tried my best…sometimes it is easier said than done and life throws you a few curve balls to set you back.  If I’ve learned one thing in life it is to expect the unexpected.

“At age 25, Jim makes $100,000 a year. He’s constantly traveling for business. He has a large home in which he often doesn’t visit some rooms for months at a time. He eats out every single night. He drives a leased Lexus, which he updates every few years at the end of the lease. He buys a whole new wardrobe every six months, taking the leftovers to Goodwill. He spends everything he brings in.

At age 25, Bill makes $35,000 a year. He lives in a smaller home and doesn’t travel much. He makes most of his own meals at home. He drives a Toyota Corolla, which he owns free and clear. He wears clothes until they’re worn, then shops at Goodwill for replacements, often picking up Jim’s barely-worn clothes. At the end of the year, he usually has about $5,000 of his income left over, which he sticks into his stock investments which earn 8% a year.

In ten years, Jim’s net worth hasn’t grown a cent. In those same ten years, Bill has $72,000 in the bank.

At the twenty year mark, Jim’s net worth still hasn’t grown a cent. In those same twenty years, Bill has built up $228,098 in the bank.

At the thirty year mark, Jim’s still breaking even. Bill, on the other hand, has $566,416 in the bank.

At age sixty five, Jim hasn’t accumulated a cent and will be working for the man for the rest of his life. At the same age, Bill has $1.3 million in the bank and can do whatever he wants for the rest of his life – and probably already started doing that a few years earlier.

It doesn’t matter how much you earn. It matters how much you save.”

>> Read the full article

100 Top Entrepreneurs Who Succeeded Without A College Degree

Successful Entrepreneurs

Who Succeeded Without Traditional Education

en•tre•pre•neur -noun Entrepreneur, translated from its French roots, means “one who undertakes.” The term Entrepreneur is used to refer to anyone who undertakes the organization and management of an enterprise involving independence and risk as well as the opportunity for profit.

Some of my favorites:

Historical Figures

  • Abraham Lincoln, lawyer, U.S. president. Finished one year of formal schooling, self-taught himself trigonometry, and read Blackstone on his own to become a lawyer.
  • Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, and one of the first mega-billionaires in the US. Elementary school dropout.
  • Andrew Jackson, U.S. president, general, attorney, judge, congressman. Home-schooled. Became a practicing attorney by the age of 35 – without a formal education.
  • Benjamin Franklin, inventor, scientist, author, entrepreneur. Primarily home-schooled.
  • Christopher Columbus, explorer, discoverer of new lands. Primarily home-schooled.
  • Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb, phonograph, and more. Primarily home-schooled, then joined the railroad when he was only 12.

Business Pioneers

Tech Innovators

  • Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com. Dropped out of college during his second year.
  • Larry Ellison, billionaire co-founder of Oracle software company. Dropped out of two different colleges.
  • Michael Dell, billionaire founder of Dell Computers, which started out of his college dorm room. Dropped out of college.
  • Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable.com at the age of 19.
  • Shawn Fanning, developer of Napster. Dropped out of college at the age of 19.
  • Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, billionaire. Did not complete college.

Food & Lifestyle Entrepreneurs

  • Dave Thomas, billionaire founder of Wendy’s. Dropped out of high school at 15.
  • Jimmy Dean, multimillionaire founder of Jimmy Dean Foods. Dropped out of high school at 16.
  • John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods. Enrolled and dropped out college six times.
  • Rachael Ray, Food Network cooking show star, food industry entrepreneur, with no formal culinary arts training. Never attended college.
  • Wally “Famous” Amos, multimillionaire entrepreneur, author, talent agent, founder of Famous Amos cookies. Left high school at 17 to join the Air Force.
  • Wolfgang Puck, chef, owner of 16 restaurants and 80 bistros. Quit school at the age of 14.

Arts & Entertainment

  • Ansel Adams, world-famous photographer. Dropped out of high school.
  • Frank Lloyd Wright, the most influential architect of the twentieth century. Never attended high school.
  • James Cameron, Oscar-winning director, screenwriter, and producer. Dropped out of college.
  • Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Inc. Did not attend college.
  • Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam records, founder of Russell Simmons Music Group, Phat Farm fashions, bestselling author. Did not finish college.
  • Sean John Combs, entertainer, producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Never finished college.
  • Simon Cowell, TV producer, music judge, American Idol, The X Factor, and Britain’s Got Talent. High school dropout.

Education Paths

High School Dropouts

Walt Disney, Richard Branson, Wolfgang Puck, Ray Kroc

No College

Henry Ford, Mary Kay Ash, Rachael Ray, Richard Schulze

College Dropouts

Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Steve Wozniak, John Mackey

Home-Schooled

Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Edison

Join the Conversation

Which of these entrepreneurs do you find most inspiring? Are there others you would add to this list?