Why Your Company Needs A Chief Collaboration Officer

Collaboration. It’s a $1 billion industry, according to an ABI Research study on worker mobility and enterprise social collaboration. And it's projected to grow to $3.5 billion by 2016. No wonder lots of ink has been spilled on this business buzzword on everything from how to start (hint: build trust) to doing it better with social platforms, to using it as a way to achieve that holy grail of business: innovation. Two years ago, the Harvard Business Review even touted the need for another C-suite executive: the CCO. But in an ideal scenario, this most critical of business strategies would have a dedicated individual toiling to make collaboration part of the daily doings of the company. Todd Etter, one of the founders of the multimedia financial-services company that dishes advice on stocks and personal finance, has held the title for the past two years. They even have proof. Understand What Collaboration Is...and What It Isn’t Use Responsibly Brainstorm Effectively Hack the "Hackathon"

Managers Need to Up Their Game with Social Media - Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald by Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald | 11:47 AM March 26, 2012 Using social media to accomplish a meaningful purpose involves more than providing new technology and praying for success. Successful mass collaboration places new requirements on an organization, particularly its managers. Why? Unfortunately, this control is the antithesis of collaboration. While it sounds obvious that managers can compromise collaboration with prescriptive control, the relationship between resources, responsibility, and management is one of the most frequently asked questions in organizations looking to apply social media to achieving meaningful business purposes. Manager as Guide Effective managers in social organizations embrace a different style of management and leadership. Participation. Participation, purpose, and performance represent the goals for guiding management and the requirements for effective managers/sponsors in mass collaboration.

Does Your Executive Team Need To Tweet To Create A Social Business? Do you think you need to be an expert at something to inspire others? The methods of motivation and leadership are many and varied, but undoubtedly leading by doing is one of the more successful. This especially seems to be the case in the technical world where we require our leaders to appreciate what we do, to talk our language and champion our cause to their peers. So new research by social software company Harmon.ie should be cause for concern for anyone with an interest in creating social businesses. So do CIOs of the biggest companies share their thoughts on Twitter or hang out with their peers on LinkedIn? It seems reasonable to believe that executives cannot be expected to be experts in every domain under their remit, of course not. Could it be that executives have privacy concerns and believe that the things they have to share with the world aren’t really the kind of things they should be sharing with the world. Maybe it’s a time issue. Does it matter? What about you?

Data: Composition of a Corporate Social Media Team How are today’s social media teams structured? Ever wonder who’s behind those corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts? Think there’s more to it than an intern just tweeting haphazardly? This data, in the below graphic, is compiled from Altimeter’s recent survey to 144 global national corporations with over 1000 employees shows how today’s teams in 2011 are breaking down. Finding: A Social Media Team Consists of Four Major FunctionsWhile the team size may vary, it’s important to understand the components of a team. Leadership Team: We found 1.5 folks are focused on leadership and vision, the most common title is the Corporate Social Strategist, and we published a research report discussing the aspirations and challenges of this Open Leader, and how they organize internally. Applying This Data To Your Program Averages are helpful, but only if we can apply this to your business, and because it’s not easy to publish about all the variations, here’s how to apply it to your business:

Expert Review: Tony Hsieh on The End of Business as Usual inShare150 What follows is an expert review written by Tony Hsieh, NY Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc. This book [The End of Business as Usual] covers an important concept for businesses everywhere. The future of business isn’t just about the latest technology, it’s about market disruption and how an organization recognizes and adapts to new opportunities. Without adaptation, businesses will fall to “digital Darwinism“, as Brian says. Consumer behavior is changing and, as Brian observes, we are witnessing the rise of a more connected and informed customer. At Zappos, we realized over time the importance of culture and service. With The End of Business as Usual, Brian makes the point that you can’t succeed if you lose sight of the existing customers; a balanced approach is necessary. This book can help you if you want to have a business that is able to adapt to an ever-changing business landscape. #AdaptorDie