Collaboration is about people, Ogdin says. "It's co-labor, people working together for a common goal," she says. What makes a particular collaboration tool successful in a company doesn't lie in the differences among technologies, but in the motivation of the users, Ogdin says. For collaboration technologies to work effectively, managers must create an environment where collaboration works. In consulting with Deep Woods clients, Ogdin stresses three steps.

First, you have to know what you want. "I ask, How will you know you're successful? That determines everything." But a manager can't provide an answer and work to gain buy-in from a team. "I ban the word 'buy-in,'" Ogdin says. "'Buy-in' means 'I know the right answer, and now I have to convince you to agree with me.'" Instead, she says, team members must articulate among themselves what success would look like. Getting the team involved in this discussion is part of building the team.

After determining the goal, the next consideration is resource constraints--everything from the geographic distribution of team members to reporting relationships to motivations. Each constraint limits the possible tools for the team. For example, a team whose members are scattered around the globe might have different communication needs than one whose members work in the same room.

Finally, ask what technologies can help you overcome your resource constraints to get to your imagined future. Ogdin says that it's important to remember the real question: "What is the business need, not what technology is convenient for the IT department to deploy." Some technologies aren't appropriate for some situations. Bandwidth limitations can make videoconferencing a poor choice for international teams. To develop a product launch, a shared database may be enough, but as Ogdin says, "something like an architectural design needs a sensory-rich tool to share drawings on the Internet."

Even after answering these questions and selecting an appropriate technology, success isn't assured. Ron Miazga, human-resources training director for Kirkland, Wash., chemical distributor Van Waters & Rogers Inc., says that one key to success with PlaceWare Inc.'s Web conferencing is the "show producer" role that he and his team provide. By sitting down with facilitators to help them think through their meeting, they improve the meeting's effectiveness. "Although PlaceWare is simple enough for people to figure out, we want to help them build the best possible meeting," Miazga says.

Ogdin emphasizes that the critical component is users' learning, not necessarily the training offered. "You have to think, 'How can I give people experiences that they can't not learn from? What skills can we introduce over time, one skill at a time?'" she says. Once the user learns the technology and understands the benefits to be gained, collaboration will take off.

Return to main story, "Collaboration On The Desktop."