Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Issue link: http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/471607
38 February / March 2015 Elearning! collaboration and engagement transparency from management." Looking at collaboration tools used by management, the C-suite is the least likely to use the tools. Surprisingly, this practice included chat, online communities, training and mentoring/coaching. Tis leads us to believe they are not big users of collaboration tools — yet when asked who had the authority to buy collaboration technologies, 56.2 percent pointed to corporate or departmental leadership. C-suiters were also spending more time in meetings based on their role, with 50 percent (in all sized organizations) claiming to spend 65 percent or more of their time in meetings. To make meetings more efective, better use of collaboration solutions is the top strategy. Forty-one percent felt that making better decisions faster would most improve meetings. BRIDGING THE GAP The good news is that a radical shift is under way regarding the value of engagement and collaboration. When querying the economic value of collaboration, respondents reported an 8 on value scale of 10 (Fig. 5). This was by far the highest rating since doing this study. It also indicates that we recognize the value of collaboration, but the tools and process changes required to implement effectively are wanting. There are also some highlights. While use and adoption of collaborative tools is progressing slowly, departments like sales and marketing are evolving rapidly. People at many levels, many roles, and many different sized organizations are asking for greater participation from C-suiters, believing this would translate to greater worker engagement. If management personnel want greater engagement, they should model that behavior for the entire organization. With Millennials now in the workforce, we have a generation that grew up digital; they collaborate all the time. What they lack is experience and expertise. Providing more mentoring and coaching would go a long way toward establishing relationships that engage the employee. Making cor- porate cultures more "open" is a great way to attract and keep top talent. Learning leaders are the key collaborators, and can serve as a front line across the enterprise, by testing, championing and facilitating engaging collaborations. It is clear from the data that organi- zations need to get better at collaboration (fast), or they will lag behind competitors who embrace it. —David Coleman is the founder and managing director of Collaborative Strategies, Inc., a strategic advisory services frm that works with both collaboration vendors and end-users to get the greatest adoption, productivity and revenues. Reach him via email at david@collaborativeshif.com, or on Gmail or Twitter as dcoleman100. Te C-suite is the least likely to use chat, online communities, training, mentoring and/or coaching. Score=2 Score=3 Score=4 Score=1 Score=5 Score=6 Score=7 Score=8 Score=9 Score=10 12.4% 22.3% 14% 21.5% 5.8% 9.1% 9.1% 1.7% 4.1% Fig. 5: Economic Value of Collaboration (Scale of 1-10, with 10 being excellent) Poor (under 60) Good (61-80) Excellent (81-100) Source: Technology, Culture, Economic & Politics Collaboration Metric 52.5% 32% 15.5% Fig. 4: TCEP Collaboration Metric Score