Since all the work in every business or organisation is done through relationships, it makes great sense to utilise technology to allow people to connect and collaborate easily and effectively.

The true structure of the organisation is not what is written down on an organisational chart, but what actually occurs as people connect through roles, influence and decision-making processes. The connection and co-ordination necessary to get things done happens because of productive personal relationships based upon trust and reciprocity. Sharing knowledge and adding value to the organisation depends upon the capabilities of people to informally connect with others.

Understanding and facilitating these relationships, which flow through a web of professional networks and across functional boundaries, allows employees to create productive change. And since competition is a matter of relations, the company’s ability to structure and control the process of securing productive relationships will determine success in the marketplace.

“The best leaders build the ‘social capital’ of their organisations,” says Dr. Wayne Baker, author of “Achieving Success Through Social Capital” (Jossey-Bass, 2000). “They enable their people to build the business and personal networks they need to thrive in this global economy.”

The corporate reason to collaborate is to improve decision making through knowledge management. For this to happen, organisations have to integrate collaboration tools and techniques that work well with email, business processes and analytic applications.

Today, you and half a billion other people know that Facebook is a place to connect with friends online.  Inside a company, social networking tools provide the linchpin for corporate growth, says Facebook's Director of Information Technology Tim Campos.  Social networking has made it easy for people to share information about themselves, and now that way of communicating is shifting to the workplace.

Campos says company culture influences whether collaboration projects will succeed.

At Facebook, employees live in the collaboration tools, Campos says, launching them when they boot up their computers every day.   Collaboration works best when employees can tap many information sources.   That way, like-minded groups of people can gather online, exchange data, and disband when the work is done.

Many employers know that ordinary people don’t change that much, yet the power of a positive corporate culture that facilitates collaboration can help them and their company achieve extraordinary success.

Source: Coach2Coach e-newsletter, February 17, 2011.