Collaboration Breeds Innovation

Why Collaboration?

• Technology moves so fast, collective intelligence can only just about keep up

• Past could think individually, the web makes thinking far more social & powerful

• Moving from mass mediocrity to mass innovation

• Innovation gap to imitation has almost collapsed

Why Collaborate…cont…

• No longer just consumers of content we are making it

• Stock of human knowledge now doubles every 5 years

• Users not distributors are in control• Declining cost of collaboration• And….competitive advantage has evolved

Wikinomics says openness, sharing, peering & acting globally define how 21st Century companies need to work

Tapscott also says “the losers launch websites. The winners launch vibrant

communities.”

How it sits at the moment!

OPEN CLOSED

PUBLIC WikipediaLinux

BBCCouncilsUniversitiesBritish Library

PRIVATE TwitterOurThinkLABThreadless

MicrosoftBanksMcDonaldsFacebook

Path to Collaboration (Holman 2011)

Connect Converse Share Collaborate Innovate

Niche networks

Large networks

Closed networks

Engage

Contribute

Observe

Openness

Peer to peer

Articulate

Discussion

Criticisms

Shared knowledge

Information

Content

Trust

Community

Reputation

Insights

Collective intelligence

Shared values

Respect

Common purpose

Affinity

Collective action

Open source

Recognition

Co Create

Commercial added value

Prototypes

Tested

BUT SERIOUSLY WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO COLLABORATE……

Deary me……

CONNECT

• Variety of sources• Express not promote oneself• No Control• Real person• Openness• Transparency

NAÏVE MOVING TOWARDS TRANSACTIONAL

CONVERSE

(Shaw 2008)

TRANSACTIONAL

EnlightenedEnlightened

NaturalNatural

NaiveNaive

TransactionTransaction

SHARE

• Building trust• Building reputation• Building relationship• Building collective intelligence• Building ideas

MOVING TOWARDS ENLIGHTENED

COLLABORATE

• Voluntary selection• Peer production communities• Openness & trust• Shared values & common purpose• Can become self organising

ENLIGHTENED, AFTER TIME BECOMES NATURAL

INNOVATE

• Testing & prototyping• True new innovation not imitation• Will challenge traditional talent management

programs• People value not people control• Will be traumatic

IF SUCCESSFUL, NATURAL STATE OCCURS

Things to Ponder

• How we swap & share music today will become the norm in industry

• Organisations will need to facilitate the connectiveness of individuals

• Community & collaboration replacing hierarchy & control

• You can’t make people collaborate• Innovation only happens in collaboration if

there is some order & sophistication

Gone from organising and re organising production systems, industrial relations, factories &

procedures to understanding, enabling & facilitating ideas that are shared and

developed using collaborative methods that we still don’t understand the power of….

Okay……QUESTIONS??