The Collaborative Organization:How to Make Employee Networks Really Work

Amanda FelixBUS 550

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Why Employee Networks?

Traditional methods are not enough!

Reduce costs, improve efficiency and spur innovation!

Information technology is becoming increasingly more critical!

Why Employee Networks?

The IT department must be a strategic business partner• Forecast the business impact of

emerging technologies• Lead the development of new IT-enabled

products and services• Drive adoption of innovative

technologies that differentiate the organization from competitors

Why Employee Networks? The key to having both operational

excellence and innovation is having networks of informal collaboration

Innovative solutions often emerge from informal, unplanned interactions between individuals who see problems from different perspectives

** Not all situations fit established processes**

Organizational Network Analysis

Offers useful methodology to help executives: Assess broader patterns of informal

networks among individuals, teams, functions and organizations

Then take targeted steps to align networks with strategic imperatives

Through Network Analysis You Can Find Out:

Who looks to who for information and expertise

Whom they engage with on routine decision making

Whom they turn to when dealing with problems that require more innovative brain storming

How much time they invest in specific collaborations

Network Analysis Detects Structural Problems

Senior leaders who understand broad patterns of employee interaction and what makes for effective internal networks have opportunities to reduce collaborative costs and network inefficiencies

Four Critical Ways to Improve Performance

1) Attain benefits of scale through effective global collaboration

2) Drive work force engagement and performance

3) Align collaborative with business partners and external stakeholders

4) Minimize network inefficiencies and costs

1). Attain Benefits of Scale Through Effective Global Collaboration

Optimize their operations locally rather than globally Leads to redundancies in expertise, capabilities

and technology investments *** hint hint*** Plus there are fundamental incompatibilities

across geographies Benefits of scale require having connections

across geographies Deploying new communication technologies

is not the same as collaboration

Monsanto Co.

IT company– global agribusiness company

Many of the team members had previously collaborated with one another

Instead of individual projects they were able to orchestrate a single global rollout

Leveraged an external network of contacts

How did they do it?

By building lateral networks The creation of a global virtual network

whose goal was to standardize infrastructure

Chose team members based on their strong personal networks across the organization and deep local ties

Virtual teams addressed cross organizational issues and were composed of employees from around the world

Bridge Builders

Network analysis showed that team members were more frequently sought out for their expertise and insights Others turned to them to discuss new opportunities or

to solve difficult problems 55% of those that participated were cited among

the top performers during the annual company review

Some teams are only held together by 3 or 4 individuals The departure of a few key people reduced the level of

connectivity among those who remained by more than 50%

Reducing Network Silos

Network analysis helps managers assess the health of cross organizational collaboration while suggesting improvement opportunities

Looked for opportunities to enhance collaboration across function, distance and technical specialization

Had to consider ways to generate more connectivity--what happens if you lose people?

2). Drive Workforce Engagement and Performance

IT organizations are heavily focused on measurable goals Takes the focus off things that are harder

to measure—work practices, collaboration and documentation

These things are important!!

Improving Collaboration Effectiveness

Study the networks of high performance High performers

Have larger networks Connect to people with diverse expertise from a

broad range of functions and across different locations

CIOs can leverage these findings Replicate the networks of high performers!

The more top performers in an org the better Top performers have access to the best

expertise available, not just what was physically nearby

Identifying High Performers People connected to high performers

were much more likely to report feeling energized by the interactions

High performers were also likely to have contacts that they found more energizing than average

It benefits leaders to identify energizers

Identify which employees are disengaged

3). Align Collaborations with Business Partners and External Stakeholders

Innovation often involves migrating ideas from one context to another. Expose employees Create a map

Ex: Business analysts tend to be well connected externally but less sought out by their internal colleagues An underexploited resource for

promoting innovative new ideas

4). Minimize Network Inefficiencies and Collaborative Costs

Decisions in IT organizations must address complex sets of interdependencies.

Reduce network creativity at points where collaboration failed to produce sufficient value

3-5% of the most connected people accounted for 25-35% of the network ties

Role Based Factors

Central connectors Enterprise level responsibilities Interactions with a wide range of other

IT units Large number of direct reports.

To reduce collaboration overload Identify network opportunities for

rerouting access to the information they held

Personal Factors

Network overload can also occur when employees lean too heavily on colleagues for technical expertise or help in navigating the organization Shifting non technical aspects to others Deliberate attempts not to respond to questions

from internal clients▪ “When people saw I was putting my trust in him that

really boosted his confidence and helped people across various groups see that he was a good guy to go to”

Document projects thoroughly to ensure that you are not the sole expert

In Conclusion…

Employee networks can transform rigid organizations into flexible units that can adapt and innovate

CIOs need to let go of some of their traditional management methods and embrace a different more collaborative management model

Although organizational charts and standardized processes can provide important underpinnings, they are not flexible enough!

MC Question:

Optimizing operations locally rather than globally… A) Leads to redundancies in expertise,

capabilities and technology investments

B) Is the best way to optimize operations C) Leads to increased collaboration

across all networks