Companies as Communities: Productivity Through Collaboration

Guest post by Dawn M. Foster

When most people think about online communities, they think of external communities of sometimes random groups of people interacting online around some common interest. While many online communities fit into this category, I have been seeing an increasing number of companies that are building communities of employees within their organizations to improve collaboration and achieve productivity improvements. I've even been lucky enough to have worked within organizations that felt more like a community than a company and where collaboration was a priority.

Jeet talked about this idea in a recent post about enterprise agility as a path to ROI. He says that "collaboration is the essential ingredient for getting things done in today's enterprise." Collaboration is one of the key functions of any type of community, but communities are more than just a place for people to collaborate. In general, great communities bring people together to form a shared identity and cohesiveness among the members. Many companies struggle with ways to get all of their employees working together as a cohesive group, but becoming more community oriented is a great way for employees to get more involved and feel like they are really part of the corporate identity rather than just another cog in the wheel. Let me provide a few examples that demonstrate the benefits of treating your company as a community.

Collaboration on documents and other information. We have all been in a situation where multiple people were editing a document and passing it around in email with the end result being lost edits, overwriting each others changes and other general document chaos. Having a better way for employees to collaborate on documents is one obvious benefit of the community approach that can be easily demonstrated by time savings and overall quality improvements. However, we can take this community approach one step further. Let's assume that you have 3 people editing a document that contains a proposal for some new business your company is trying to win. What happens when those three people are editing a document that is visible in the community for other people to view? Now, you have a mechanism for additional feedback, ideas, and suggestions from people that you might never have thought to ask about the proposal. You might even find that you have someone who has an in depth knowledge of the company who can offer insights into the company that would have otherwise gone unknown. Now, this doesn't mean that you open every document up to everyone in the company. The solutions that you choose for your community platform should have a robust privacy structure where you can secure sensitive documents and control who can view or edit particular documents.

Improved Decision Making. Another benefit of a community approach is in the decision making process. I once worked at a company where key decisions were debated in our online community prior to implementing most changes. These decisions ranged from broad corporate and product strategy decisions to decisions about which snacks to supply in the break room. While you can't (and shouldn't) open up every decision for your organization to a vote, you can get input from people, ask their opinions, and debate the merits of various options. I think you will be surprised by the insights gained from unusual places within your organization.

Getting Answers. Every day, I come up against something that I don't know. I can try to find the answer on Google or post my question to Twitter, but what about those questions that are specific to my organization? In most cases, some other employee probably knows the answer to your question and can quickly provide you with an answer. I've seen this used for questions ranging from where to find some piece of documentation (human resource policies, legal documents, etc.) to questions from a newly relocated employee needing recommendations for a good doctor that is covered under the company's insurance plan. This ad hoc Q&A between employees helps spread knowledge, but it also builds camaraderie between employees across functional and organizational silos.

Getting your company to behave as community can be a big organizational change, particularly within certain types of companies, but the benefits can be amazing. Have you worked within a company that was collaboration and community oriented, and if so, what were the biggest benefits for your organization?

This is a guest post by Dawn M. Foster. Dawn has more than 13 years of experience in business and technology with expertise in strategic planning, management, community building, community management, open source software, market research, social media, and RSS. She has experience building new communities, managing existing communities, and providing consulting and advice to companies with a particular emphasis on developer and open source communities. Dawn holds an MBA from Ashland University and a bachelor's degree in computer science from Kent State University. She uses a combination of technical and business expertise and education to help companies get real business value from participating in online communities. Dawn regularly blogs about online communities as the author of the Fast Wonder Blog, and she blogs for GigaOM's WebWorkerDaily. She is the author of the book, Companies and Communities: Participating without being sleazy. Dawn is currently providing consulting services to Twiki, Inc.

2009-10-12 | Dawn Foster | Category Community