Five reasons why collaboration initiatives fail

Gartner indentifies five myths about collaboration

Efforts to use IT to promote collaboration often fail because chief information officers (CIOs) hold mistaken assumptions about basic issues, according to research firm Gartner.

"There are five myths that derail collaboration initiatives," said Carol Rozwell, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

"Rather than making technology the starting point, IT leaders should first identify real business problems and key performance indicators (KPIs) that link to business goals."

The firm has identified five mistaken assumptions that lead to unsuccessful collaboration initiatives:

1. The right tools will make us collaborative
IT can make it easier to collaborate, but picking a new IT tool without addressing roles, processes, metrics and the workplace climate is putting the cart before the horse.

2. Collaboration is inherently good
Not all organisations can articulate the benefits they hope to see by employing social media to become more collaborative, decreasing the likelihood of pulling off a successful collaboration project. Gartner advises that to run a successful social media initiative, it must solve real business problems.

3. Collaborating takes extra time
By analysing the target audience's workflow, the common mistake of layering collaboration tools on top of existing applications that workers use can be avoided. Collaboration and social software tools that are not integrated with other applications will slow workers down.

4. People naturally will/will not collaborate
Some people like to collaborate, some don't, but most can be encouraged to collaborate under the right conditions. CIOs are urged to ignore the reluctant minority and motivate the majority of workers, who will collaborate when expectations are clear and collaborative behaviours are rewarded.

5. People instinctively know how to collaborate
Individuals will use their own interpretation of collaboration, unless given guidance. Organisations need guidelines that clarify what attitude a collaborative individual needs, what skills they need to master and what personal style works well in a team setting. IT leaders must demonstrate these behaviours themselves.