we need collaborators (not a chief collaboration officer)

Back in late 2010, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) posted Who Should be Your Chief Collaboration Officer (CCO)?  The authors called for identifying "someone to look after the whole, by taking a holistic view of what is needed to get employees to work across silos".  They then spent the rest of the blog tossing out who might be the best person (or role) to take on these additional responsibilities (i.e. the authors viewed this is a set of additional responsibilities as opposed to a dedicated position).

The article ended with the inevitable "who do you think it should be" question.  My first thought for my current organization was twofold; ME and NOBODY!! 

I thought of myself first as I'm currently on a collaboration "sugar rush" of shorts.  If you made it through my 27 min YouTube video highlighted in my recent enterprise 2.0 book review (using web 2.0 technologies within organizations) you'd know that I'm very passionate about this topic.  You'd also probably be ready for some sleep as it was intended for "bed time viewing".  ;-)  BTW, John Caddell did a 6 min book review that is probably more manageable -- check it out here.  I'm not a 20-something that truly loves updating Facebook and Twitter every 10 minutes with minutia about my day, but I have found out how Emergent Social Software Platforms (ESSPs) can make monumental differences in work-place awareness and effectiveness.

Seriously, I couldn't think of person more excited & encouraged to tackle a role like this.  That said, the more sane side of my brain says we really don't need a CCO -- we just need folks collaborating.  This isn't because it seems like there is only a single CCO in existence, but that I genuinely think the solution to this challenge lies in having leaders getting excited by, and encouraging (by example), collaborative behaviors.  I talk about this in more detail in my presentation & video as well as provide some of the benefits we can all see by changing behavior and culture.

I did a lot of searching on this topic and there are plenty of write-ups that simply echo the HBR blog message.  Image my surprise to stumble across Marcy Twete's Be Your Own Chief Collaboration Officer.  It is clear she believes, like me, that we should encourage collaboration from the bottom instead of enforce it from the top.  She says it all very succinctly:

  1. Foster collaboration in your team or department
  2. Don't ask for collaborators, be one!
  3. Be the connector and sometimes the mediator

Does your team or organization collaborate well?  What makes it possible, or what do you think gets in your way?  Has it always been the way it is now?  And yes... the inevitable (and dreaded) tools question; what ESSPs have you found helpful?

I'll leave you with a great saying from David Weinberger"there are no smart people, only smart conversations".