Grandma Knows Best

Two recent blog posts from INC have focused on how to convince your coworkers to use online tools to collaborate (read them at Getting Colleagues on Board with Collaboration Technology  and  How to Convince Colleagues to Collaborate Online ). Basically, the arguments these guys are making include:

• Cost – not as much money to video chat as travel for a face-to-face 
• Convenience – time is not a factor. You can text, email, etc and get back to someone when your schedule allows 
• Work place pressure – who’s on-board and are you the only one still collecting pink message slips
• Productivity benefits – time is scarce. If we video chat we can get to work on things faster 
• Support – hold their hands and help them adjust to new ways of doing things 
• Personalization – if we begin to use technology we might just get less formal and more personal

Really??!?

At ARE, we don't know what we'd do without the ability to collaborate online. And the benefits go way beyond saving money and time! We've written a few new books using this technology. A few of us "go to work" each day in a virtual office, skyping each other in on a live video chat, since we are multiple states away and would otherwise be working solo in our home offices. We chat on-line. We get together across the continent each week for "centering time," to stay focused as a team. We text. We spend time Facebooking and blogging to stay connected to a community beyond ourselves. We are using many of these tools to facilitate our first ever online course (called "Seeing Through New Eyes: A Six-Session Online Course Exploring The PAWN Process"); we'll be giving presentations via webinars, hosting online chat sessions, and encouraging networking & collaboration on specific projects using a special Ning site (which you can visit now to learn more about the class!). 

And we know we've just begun discovering all that is possible with online collaboration.

Having all the answers is not possible anymore, no matter how much of an expert you are. You don't need people in your organization to "buy-in" to your vision or ideas; you need them to bring their best selves to your common work so that, together, you can do what matters. Who you are together is always better, stronger, smarter than who you are alone. 

Remember, Grandma used to say: “Two heads are better than one.”  

Don’t get us wrong. The suggestions these tech bloggers are making are helpful. These tools can save you time and money. But that is hardly the most important reason to use them.. We have easier access than ever before to a world where who people are and what people have to offer is at our fingertips. People can share ideas, sharpen skills, deepen knowledge at the click of a button. We can build on each others' assets across almost every past boundary. 

Listen to Grandma. 

Here are some sites listing "the best" online tools for collaboration:

crazeegeekchick (all free!)

mindmeister (a helpful map grouping tools together for easy comparison)

readwrite enterprise

And click HERE to sign up for "Seeing With New Eyes" - our six-session online class that kicks off January 16th!