Developing collaboration in Small Business

There has been a lot of talking about collaboration lately with most conversations linking to social networks and the like. Nothing wrong with that but I don’t buy the idea that collaboration is only possible with technology. This idea is driving companies to miss the point and as a result, there is a lot of them looking at high tech social solutions as a golden ticket to success or as a requirement to survival.

Even though social network tools like facebook and twitter make it really easy to collaborate, one shouldn't forget that those tools exist because of collaboration and not the other way around. So, before investing a lot of money in collaboration tools, how about investing some energy in collaboration itself?

First it helps to know what is keeping people from collaborating. Is it really a lack of tools or could it be a lack of will? If they don’t want to collaborate, buying better tools might not help much.

I want to invite you to a very simple experiment:

• Run a survey asking how much people at your company think they help others when they collaborate and how much they have being helped because of collaboration. You might find out that some people think that collaboration is only helping others while they are not being helped at all.
• Communicate how important collaboration is for your company and let people know that the company will provide better ways to collaborate.
• Provide a very elementary way to collaborate; like a white board with post-its for instance. Tell people that it is the place to share problems, thoughts, suggestions, etc.
• Allow anonymous comments but encourage identification so everybody knows who is helping with what. Doing that, everybody will know who to look for when similar problems arise or in case one wants to know more about a specific problem or suggested solution.
• Take part of the process. Share specific problems the company is facing at the moment; like how to improve the collaboration process, for instance.
• Show appreciation not only for the good ideas that will certainly appear but also for the fact that people are exposing themselves showing the problems they have. They need to know that “that is ok” to have problems.
• Let people implement their good ideas and suggestions.

It is very probable that, in such a fertile environment, questions about how to avoid losing all the good ideas posted on that board will arise. That kind of question will drive to the desire of having a better collaboration potentially social tool.

Know more:

• Enterprise Collaboration: What Does It Mean to You?
• Strategy, Governance, User Adoption

Setting the Stage for Best Practices in Small Business

Part I

First develop a corporate culture built on excellent communications, collaboration, cooperation – These business practices have taken on special importance in the highly competitive, global business environment of the 21st century – they are at the foundation of business success today. If these characteristics are part of your business culture or you are actively pushing your organization in this direction, your potential for joining the ranks of successful best practice companies has a good start.

Why are these practices so important? They are about creating a “learning organization” the kind of organization that is sharply attuned to changes in its marketplace and can adapt quickly, the kind of organization that thrives in our technology driven “knowledge economy.” It is about gathering and using knowledge and information effectively; corralling, sharing and applying all of the knowledge and experience your employees bring to their jobs and acquire during their work day as they perform their jobs, from interactions with customers, with one-another - within and across functions, through their professional affiliations, and yes even from interactions with competitors. It’s about using this information to challenge the status quo in your organization to become better at what you do and what each of your employees do within their departments. When you reach this level, your organization is (or will soon be) working smarter and establishing a culture where looking for new ways to improve productivity, work better in teams, innovate products and processes and meet the needs and wants of your customers is the standard.

Where good ideas come from: " the collision and mingling of ideas"

You went out into the job market and hired, skills, knowledge and ability and you are paying your employees for these things. Help them to contribute to both the organization’s success and their own success. Ignite their enthusiasm and creativity by creating avenues for their participation in improvement strategizing. In the process, increase their job satisfaction and get an even better ROI – Return on Investment - your investment.

Employing technology is an essential component in achieving the level of communications and collaboration that will accelerate your organization’s development. There are tools out there that can be implemented to help your organization become a “learning organization” and they are not out of the reach of the small business. Many companies already have the rights to use such tools and don’t even know it. Customizing these to specific business needs is often affordable and well worth the expense.

JoAnn McClellan, M.S., SPHR

Small Business Portals

Can your company claim to be Eco Friendly and show the list of successful actions you are taking to become paperless?

Being in such a position not only makes the company to look modern and professional but can also increase efficiency improving profitability and, the best of all; doesn’t have to cost much.

The billing process

Imagine you perform one job a week for each one of your 20 customers. Just billing (considering setting up, printing, revising, folding, closing envelops and fixing stamps) could easily cost two hours or more every month; not considering small problems like running out of paper or even having problems with the printer itself.

But, there are other matters to consider; in extreme cases, the mail delivering time can even impact your cash-flow if you realize that any work executed during that time will have to wait until the next month to be charged as the bills have already been sent. In cases like that, you might have end up paying employees or suppliers before being paid for a job; that situation can drive your company into potential financial problems.

Now, how better would it be for every one if you could just send bills via e-mail? Among other advantages, if any customer ever loses a bill, you can always send it again (for free) with the advantage of showing that you are always there whenever needed. How good is that feeling?

The real deal

Once you have the costumer comfortable about receiving e-bills, it will be the time to go a little further. Build a website where the bill will be always available; not only the current bill but all bills from the past. Such a solution creates a bound between you and your customer causing the impression that you do more than what he is paying for. Such a feeling makes it harder to lose the customer and, even better, makes it easier to negotiate better rates.

But it gets better with time. Once customers are frequently coming to your website, you can interact and collaborate with them and ask for suggestions that will help not only to improve your products but also develop the kind of products and services they really want.