Recently, it was shared that social collaboration tools like Google’s G Suite can save employees 15-20% of their monthly time spent on administrative tasks. When we hear numbers like that, almost every leader immediately thinks: How do I implement that tool NOW?

In today’s marketplace, innovation and collaboration are hot topics. We all want to work faster, better, and smarter, and it seems like social collaboration tools are the silver bullet. Many organizations believe that these tools will build their collaborative culture for them. Today, @lornerubis and I discuss how these tools can – and can’t – work to achieve a culture shift.

Consider how organizations develop new products. At one time, we saw organizations operating linearly, passing tasks from one department to the next with little collaboration between teams. Nowadays, organizations are adopting agile or design thinking methods in their product development.

Although these methods are designed to encourage cross-functional partnerships, we see teams failing to embrace collaboration as they have not cultivated an environment that encourages teamwork. This can result in companies falling back on linear approaches. Unfortunately, a linear process doesn’t allow all of the project participants to provide their insights, some of which may be crucial to the product’s success.

True collaboration requires the intent to bring peers into a project because you genuinely value their input and insights. Creating a collaborative culture is challenging; for some organizations, it takes a complete mindset shift. Collaboration involves a lot more than working in shared documents to save time.

We cannot wave social tools like magic wands to automatically create better teamwork, more efficiencies, and a culture of innovation. Social tools accelerate collaboration only if you already have a collaborative environment. Technology doesn’t have the power to change a culture – people and their behaviors do.

Here are our 3 key steps to building a collaborative culture:

  1. Start by defining why you need to collaborate. What purpose does it serve?
  2. As a leader, start modelling collaborative behaviours. Find ways to get your team involved in new and different projects. Encourage an environment where all employees have the courage to participate in idea building and share their own ideas.
  3. Once you develop a culture where people naturally work in collaboration, apply social tools to improve productivity and efficiency.

Here’s to disrupting sameness and achieving #betterwork.

Lynette