Hubert Saint-Onge on Collaboration @ KMWorld

Fairly full group in this room now for Hubert Saint Onge’s disucssion on Collaborative Networks and the New Enterprise.

1) explore why the capacity for collaboration is vital to the new enterprise?
2) Define guiding principles for developing collaborative networks.
3) Review the leadership challenges inherent to effective collaboration
4) Identify an approach for selection opportunities for greater collaboration.

Engender the free flow of capability and knowledge. If we don’t think in a larger way around collaboration around and across boundaries. We need closer connections with customers and suppliers. If you cannot partner internally you won’t be able to collaborate externally. Low levels of collaboration are stuck in the mud. How can organizations be more emergent directed rather than pre-defined as you don’t need collaboration for that. Once targeted how do you build in the capailbity for capability development. How do you build capability as you encounter challenges. Now using the knowlege platform for collaborating more widely around the organization.

Collaborative networks form a second dimension of the organization struction and funition in a complementary wayto the hierarchial stucture. (Yikes the same words that Verna used.. well almost?)

Collaboration is more important because

• ciients want seamlessly integrated solutions. Customers want fully integrated solutions.
• global marketplace
• extensive, global supply chains.
• need for greater access to knowledge
• generation of creatively, innovation and synergy.
• expansion of networks and influence

Back to the drawing board where we have to grow organically. It’s hard to grow when people are working within silos. Barriers currently, hierarchy, process, geographic; resulting in organizational islands. Will never be innovative or customer centric organizations. You need diversity, different lenses to create innovation. Must set the condition.

Says what we know. organizations are overdeveloped on the vertical axis. Collaboration puts emphasis on the horizontal access. We don’t tend to organize in collaborative fashion. He says: The real problem is bringing people together in real-time to resolve new challenges. The ability to respond fast provides greater agility. More words. integration, partnering etc. Organizations via hierarchy are built for predictability and thus they tend to fall behind when emergent conditions are accelerating.

Great message in … Leverage technology to make judicious use of face to face time! Must build a platform where knowlledge objects are available all across the organization, What I’d like to know is how and what tools he puts in place. No one will read the object. If you find it and know the person and you can then connect the social interaction… then the value is created in the way work is done. Metaphor: Knowledge platform is the workbench where collaboration gets done. You must put information in context! The context has to tie to people to create / enhance collaboration. He’s now talking about a collaboration index. (I’d like to see his short test / set of questions for this.) Talking about Productive Inquiry.

(I am still finding this too structured. I’m thinking the organization needs more work on real-time flows. I look at twitter and presence updates / status and ambient intimacy or partial attention to speed and make more visible emergent themes. I also think these can be very grounded in reality. Eg happening now. So my challenge on this.. is accelerate the chatter.. not forums or sturctured environments. I also think people need access to their contributions. They also need to see how all their infomation create more value when they link to others. or create x new comments discussions etc.)

I must admit I really find it impossible to believe that this message isn’t understood in organizations. I know they don’t necessarily behave that way. I believe there are so many buzz words. I find there are tools, not specified here and methods both face to face that I’ve used before to move organizations towards a more emergent operating style. I disagree with his statement that organizations may have no emergent capabilities. They always do. He’s using referring to scenarios too! It’s a great way to get organizations learning about emergent / judgement situations. My take not said here. The organization that learns faster together, asks better questions. They are then better informed. They are proactive (even if they fail on small items) and thus learn faster. When the same is set up with customers and partners the organization has a secure role.

? Audience: How would you use the network to enhance the strategic planning process rather than the retreat?
Leadership forum. bring together the management and some additional folks across the organization. This is a very old strategy….I am surprised by the answer. I’d like to see some things that are more radical. He does say that strategy must be run / done from the enterprise level. My point would be. Great strategy starts with questions. Most are very simple and basic. Simple questions enable complex solution. If your strategy question is simple then you have a chance.

I really worry about common sense. The simplest things.. the simplest questions can really shake up an organization. Collaboration has to remove friction and increase flow. I think the best challenge to this approach is a more real-time emphasis. Anyways thought provoking. I’m obviously more interested in seeing new tools and approaches applied. Less on diagnostic and more on new forms of action.