Overview of Virtual Collaboration

Virtual Collaboration has far-

reaching benefits
 Employee to Employee
 R&D – Insights on regulatory processes, global
formulations
 Marketing – campaigns and promotions that worked
well, product launch best practices
 Supply Chain – global sourcing insights
 Employee to Consumer
 Gain product insights and learn wants
 Build brand loyalty through relationships
 Employee to Customer
 Gain insights on promotions, special packs
 Build loyalty through relationships
 Some measurable results

 Shorter product/project cycle times

 Greater leverage of existing intellectual
capital
 More successful promotions
 Decreased travel costs
 Increased productivity and organization
effectiveness
Why We Really Need to Collaborate
Virtually
From Industrial Age to Information Age

Me, Inc.

Large companies Independent contractors

Competitive advantage is
gained by creating knowledge:
-Intellectual property
-Best practices
-Process improvements
-Trained or skilled workers
(static)
Competitive advantage is gained
by creating optimal connections:
-Networks
-Teams or communities
-Collaboration
-Adaptable, self-learning workers
(dynamic)
 How do people collaborate?
People share essentially two types of knowledge:
 Tacit knowledge – “what the knower knows,
derived from experience, embodying beliefs and
values” e.g., anecdotes, advice, intuition,
 Explicit knowledge – “represented by an artifact
created with the goal of communicating with
others”, e.g., books, documents, videos.
 People have various definitions of
what virtual collaboration means
This is often
Reading
considered
Training knowledge
Watching management
Tacit Explicit
Conversations Library
This is often
Meetings Search
referred to as
collaboration Q&A Archives

Tacit Explicit
Interviewing
Collaboration Documenting
Knowledge
Recording Management
 Effective Collaboration Requires
Balancing these Four aspects
Learning is the
process of
internalizing and
applying others’
experiences

Finding artifacts
Building allows access to
relationships multitudes of
enables trust which experience and
enables learning expertise
from others
Tacit Explicit

Capturing
experiences allows
for easier
dissemination and
creates a public
memory
 Different tools support these
processes
Web conference
eLearning
Tacit Social networks
Explicit
eMail Document flow mgr

Web conference Website

Twitter Portal

Instant Messaging Web drive

Social networks Shared drive

Tacit Explicit
eMail

Collaboration Web conference

Knowledge
Social networks Management
Web drives
 Some of the Tools Available
Explicit

Tacit
 Keys to Successful Virtual
Explicit Collaboration
Shared Work Space
Attention Management
- Easy to access
- Easy to search
- Easy to use (help available)
- Alert to important updates Communications
- Formal process & plan
Maintenance - Considers
- Relevant, updated content cultural differences
- Version tracking - Impromptu methods
- Archiving & history - Scheduled
- Clean up Relationship Building - Monitored
- Team dynamics
- Facilitated discussions
- Sub teams
- Presence monitoring
- Feedback Virtual Meetings
Tacit
 How do you know what to use?
1. Clearly define the mission and objectives of
your team or project, including deliverables.
2. Envision how your team will work together.
3. Determine what types of knowledge need to
be shared.
4. Determine how decisions will be made.
5. Choose the tools to support the processes
above.
6. Define the practices and habits for using the
tools and working together!
 How we use Tools on our team
If you want to….
Share documents
Edit documents collaboratively
Hold real-time discussions
Hold online discussions
(asynchronous)
Hold real-time meetings
Hold and record meetings for
later playback
Use voting or polls
Consider these tools…
Shared drive, website, eRoom
eRoom, Office change tracking
Outlook, Instant Messaging,
telephone, eRoom chat
eRoom, Outlook
NetMeeting, teleconference,
WebEx, videoconference, Centra
Centra
Outlook, eRoom
 Typical Collaboration Maturity

Collaborating Decision High

Document Information on Making Performing
Posting Sharing Documents Virtual
Teams

Technical Issues Behavior Issues

must be overcome must be overcome
 Tips for Leading a Virtual Team
1. Establish with your team your communication plan and
practices (when, how). Consider cultural and time zone
differences.
2. Maintain focus on the team’s mission and goals. Identify
quick actions that can benefit the members.
3. Help team members connect with each other and
frequently connect with them.
4. Role-model the use of technology for communication
and collaboration.
5. Establish a process for recording and archiving the
team’s memory.
6. Prepare team members for virtual work challenges.
7. Seek frequent feedback on what is working well and
what can be improved.
 In other words - Process, Process,
Process
 Meeting Management
 Meeting Roles and Responsibilities
 Team Building and Dynamics
 Project Management
 Facilitation
 Responsibility Charting
Good process management is even more important
for a virtual team than a face-to-face team.
Required Roles & Responsibilities
Leader Advocate the use of collaboration tools
Seek and implement best practices
Collect feedback on improvements
Administrator Update information
Perform housekeeping
Enforce best practices
Help Offer training and ongoing support to
help users use tools effectively

IT Support:
Resolve hardware and local network
-Local issues
-Global Resolve application issues and
coordinate network issues
 Tips for Team Members
1. Schedule time for team collaboration and
visiting the web share on your calendar.
2. Keep the web share portal open on your
desktop so that team members can reach you.
3. Use web share alerts to notify others of new
files and discussions, rather than email.
4. Use version or change tracking to maintain
only one version of each document.
5. Add links to your portal for easy access.

Success Lies in the Team’s Daily Work Habits

 What to Expect

 The technology will not work perfectly the

first time.
 If you build it, they don’t always come.
 It takes about 20 days to create or break
a habit.
 Adoption Quick Hit
 Use tools in between face-to-face
meetings either as a substitute for a
meeting or to accelerate meeting
progress. Examples:
 Get input on documents before meeting
 Use discussions to surface issues
 Use polls to gauge consensus on decisions
 Use webconferencing for every other meeting