We all chip in and the world is better for it. But there are some things that can kill collaboration:
- Silos
- Egos
- Pontificators
- Group Think
- Off topic time wasters
- Diverse levels of understanding
- Deep-seeded tradition
- Lack of leadership
As I said in a previous post, there must be a goal. Why should we collaborate? What is the point? For there to be a community to collaborate in, there must be a leader. The leader may not have to do much except to spur discussion. This can be done in many ways, including expressing divergent ideas.
But why would the user want to collaborate? WIIFM? In essence, they want to ‘align’. Align to what? Anything they want. And that is the point, it is to what they want, not what you or their boss or spouse wants. It is what they want to align to. For example, I want to learn more about a certain process. If I search and it is not there, I might create one and ask others to agree or disagree. Alignment. Or I learn a piece of information and want others to know it because it will make my job easier. So I share – alignment. It is alignment to the rest of the community, whatever that community is called.
