Meet your new colleague

Meet your new colleague

First name: Collaboration

Last name: Social

 

  • Hi there, my name is Koen. Nice to meet you! What is your name?
  • Well hello. Nice to meet you too, and so happy to be here to come and keep you all busy… errr… to help you all in your daily work. My name is Collaboration.
  • Great! So nice you finally joined us. I heard so many good things about you. We have been waiting for your arrival quite some time. Hope you are up and running soon so we can work together and get things done more efficiently than we do today.
  • Don't worry about me. I'll be up and running in no time. In fact, I'm already involved in several parts of the company. You know, some people were already asking for my help, even before I joined the company. Well, don't tell the others , because officially I was not allowed of course. The folks at IT should never know about this.
  • I see… so what were you doing then?
  • Oh, well. Helping some teams to work together and communicate in a modern way. You know…
  • Euhm, yeah, I guess I know.
  • But that's the past of course. Now I'm here and I can work with everybody in the company. Officially.
  • And I assume you will continue to help those people that you worked with already before you were here?
  • Well, for sure! And all the others too!
  • Sounds good, but, won't it be more complex in the future than it was in the past? I mean: getting the whole company to work together is not an easy job, right?
  • Don't worry, I'm very good at helping groups of people to work together the way they operate best! It's organic…
  • Right… organic… great word. Sounds… very natural.
  • Exactly! You see, my job here is actually rather simple: the moment I walk in the room, people start to work together. And even have fun in the process. Much better than with my predecessor.
  • Mister Mail? Well... I do miss him to be honest. 
  • It's a good thing he got fired… errr… decided to leave the company and pursue other opportunities.
  • No, that's not what happened! He's not moved out; he moved to another role and is still very much active throughout the whole company!
  • Seriously? Well, he'll realize very soon his services are no longer needed.
  • Hum… Well… for me it's not that clear though. How will we communicate now that he's elsewhere?
  • No worries. You see: I'll provide you with means to do just that! And not 'locked-in' like Mr Mail always told you to do… no no… you'll gain so much time not being stuck to your mailbox anymore. I guess you were also complaining about having too many mails, right?
  • Well sure, who doesn't.
  • I'll teach you to communicate in a different way: in a central place and 'in-context'. Everything in one place! Content AND collaboration AND communication in the same place. Hence, in context.
  • Amazing. But which context exactly?
  • Well, every context!
  • Every context. So that's a lots of places, no? I work in many projects and I'm part of many teams!
  • No worries, colleague. I'll give you a context for each and every of those situations.
  • So I'll have many contexts… then please explain me: where is that central place exactly that you refer too? 
  • Oh, that depends on the context.
  • Wait a sec: so you are saying I'll potentially not have one central place, but many central places?
  • Yep, and in all of those places you can work in 'in context'.
  • That doesn't sound very effective? How do I work then?
  • Oh, depending on the situation you are in, you work in that context and there you'll meet your other colleagues that you are working with in that same context.
  • But, then I'll be constantly switching context? Cause, I'm doing many things simultaneously?!
  • Minor detail.
  • How do I know then what to do where? What to say where? What to find where? It even sounds like I might have to move context just to 'say' something to a colleague about a certain topic, even when we were together in another context just five minutes ago? The way it seems to me: that central place is an illusion.
  • No, no, you see it wrong, you just have many central places.
  • Doesn't sound really central to me then.  
  • Don't worry - it'll work. Organically.
  • For sure I'll need some time to get used to working with you.
  • I'm easy-going. You'll see, I can work with anybody - cause I adapt to how you prefer to work. So in your context, I adapt my workstyle to your preferred working style. And I'll promise it's even fun to work with me… You know, I'm good at making jokes. And: I can do emoticons!
  • My working style, you say? 
  • Well, your team's working style.
  • My team?
  • All of your teams.
  • But the different teams I work in have completely different ways of working!
  • As I said - organic.
  • Yeah, but I'll end up adapting my own workstyle constantly then! 
  • Euh - not sure I understand what you mean.
  • No, I'm sure you don't. And I notice that you keep talking about work style, but what about work structure, procedures, processes…? How do you manage that, within teams and organization-wide?
  • You worry too much - that will come…
  • … organically?
  • I wanted to say: naturally.
  • Well, I'm not so sure about that, to be honest. Need to think about that - and ask some advice first.
  • Well, it was nice to meet you. Have to go now. Need to get some work done. 
  • It was… euh… fun to meet you.
  • See you. Soon!
  • Sure… Oh, hello there Mr Mail. So nice to see you again and that you are doing well! You got five minutes for me?
  • …

 

You recognize this kind of conversation? Or worse, you never had this kind of conversation? Talk to me… I can help you to make sure you are aware, and guide you through the process of introducing new ways of working. Properly.