Our department team members work independently on projects and the current environment does not foster open communication, knowledge sharing, or teaming within the department due to the independent nature of the work. This is a concern as the majority of the team members have less than 5 years experience on the team. Budget constraints and the possibility of positions not being backfilled in 2009 will only magnify this situation. In addition, team members are located in two different states within the U.S. and in each location sit in areas that are not conducive to open communication, knowledge sharing, or teaming within the department. Any thoughts on what we can do to improve?
The Team Doc Says…
The good news is that the current environment can always be changed by new actions. But someone has to start the process — how about you?
Just because each person’s work is of an independent nature doesn’t mean they don’t have interdependencies on each other. And at the very least, every single team member contributes to the goals of the company so there has to be some commonality somewhere.
So let’s start with a list of things you can do to foster open communication and knowledge sharing.
1. Set up a weekly teleconference where people can begin to get comfortable talking to each other. This call could be about 30 minutes and focus on what people are doing.
2. Create a location on your company intranet that contains team member photos and bios. It’s always more helpful to put a face to a name.
3. Set up a blog or wiki where people can define their knowledge area and help others.
4. Create a buddy system. Assign each person a buddy who will be their main link in the organization. These team members should talk at least once a week to see how they can help each other.
5. Tap into an instant messaging system for quick links from / to team members. You could have everyone sign up for twitter under a private group and use that for your IM system.
6. Have each team member define their role in the company from a process perspective. Combine them all together so everyone can see how they contribute to the whole.
7. Kick the leadership in the butt and get them communicating with staff — via email, phone, teleconference, podcasts, video casts, and the “good old fashioned way” in person.
This should get you started. Let me know how the action you take works out for you.
Reader — What can you add to this list? Please leave a comment.
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I think you hit the nail on the head. Connectivity is key, weekly conference calls or online chat sessions can streamline everything, and clearly defined roles can keep everyone straight. Chatmaker.net or Chatzy.com will let you set up private group discussion rooms for free (I think).