by Sarah Miller Caldicott
What’s the difference between using social media tools and collaborating? If I’m using social media to the maximum extent, am I suddenly also being collaborative?
Lately, it appears ”using social media” is equivalent to ”collaboration.” I hear this erroneous collapsing of genres particularly inthe realm of open innovation and crowdsourcing (check out this great article from Business Week for more.). Have you
noticed the subtle media meld across these worlds?
While much can be applied from social media to yield a more enlightened approach to collaboration, the two are not synonymous. Considering them equivalent can create traps and send us down unproductive pathways that waste time and resources.
In reality, no amount of social media will fix underlying problems in designing collaborative teams. The best intentioned social media can be off track if its usage within a collaborative context is not aligned to the work of the team, brand, or client itself.
In our haste as high-impact marketers and innovators, we sometimes apply the wrong social media vehicles at the wrong time. We lay on too much complexity when the team (client) – or situation – can’t handle it. A deeper understanding of the four phases of collaboration can offer us a solid view of how to better link social media as a complement to collaboration rather than a vehicle which distracts a team from its broader mission.
Here is a look at what research reveals to be true about collaboration itself. By placing social media into the various facets and phases of collaboration, it can offer us a valuable guide to how much social media is too much and how much is just right.
Four Phases of Collaboration
Research suggests that there are four facets of team design which are necessary for collaboration to progress successfully from an early phase – where interactions are relatively focused – to a later phase, where they are intense yet far-reaching. By identifying how your teams align with these four phases, you can determine which tools within social media are most valuable for each one.