I watch a lot of the presentation on TED.com and I just watched a talk by Larry Lessing (Laws that choke creativity in case anyone cares). If I had to sum up what the talk was about in 1 sentence I would say that it is about the movement of the world from a read-only information model to a read-write model. He was, of course, talking about the world in general but it got me thinking about the same sort of move within the business world.
Its not, of course, a perfect analogy since in the business world information workers have always been involved in the reproduction of information. But there is still a shift taking place from a world in which an employee or a small group of employees would produce information which may or may not be consumed by others and may or may not be used to create new information to a world in which information can be produced, altered and shared to anyone who needs it instantly. And as much as I’m a fan of this sort of information model I’ll be the first to admit that it creates risks for any company. But before anyone goes writing off these technologies because of these risks, there is a relatively quick fix: Governance.
Now many of you who support these technologies will flinch when I say that. “Governance will kill innovation and information sharing” you’ll say. But it doesn’t have to. In fact governance can help companies walk that fine line between wide open collaborative tools and tools locked so tight no one can share anything. To do that though the policies created and the processes that support that policy need a few things:
1. The inclusion of certain key issues, including (but not limited to) the use of copyrighted material, the sharing of secure or restricted information, abuse of all kinds, and any isms that you may wish to or be required to prevent.
2. Effective communication of these policies to employees, including any changes as they may arise
3. The appropriate threat of punishment as the processes must include the ability to carry out these threats where necessary. A loud bark won’t be much use without at least 1 row of sharp teeth.
4. An indication of what an employee should do if he/she feels these rules have been breached.
5. The trust to allow employees to behave in accordance (or in contravention) of the stated policies. If you have appropriate policies and the ability to discipline those who break the rules then there should be little problem in allowing employees to use their judgement to decide what actions they can and cannot take within the confines of the stated rules.
If the governance around collaborative tools include these 5 things then employees should be able to effectively collaborate with little risk to the company, which is good both for the employees and for the bottom line.
