Collaborative Conversations

It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. —Charles Darwin

Though Darwin was not discussing Web 2.0 technologies, the point that collaboration is a powerful indicator of success is very relevant to this discussion.  In Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Tools for Classrooms, author Will Richardson argues that modern teaching should be a conversation, not a lecture.  The text goes on to discuss that the integration of Web 2.0 tools has led a shift towards collaboration and conversation and away from lecture as the go-to education tool.  When thinking about this shift through the lens of employee communications in the corporate environment, it seems that the same principles can apply.  Rather than looking at employee communications as a one-way street, we need to continue to develop more tools that engage employees and encourage conversation.  The Web 2.0 tools are just as applicable in this space as in education.  When there are hot button industry issues, a relevant change in government regulations or a need to explain quarterly earnings, I hope we can begin to encourage conversations and questions more and decrease the PowerPoint lectures.  One way I could affect this change is to provide conversation starters to executives instead of full remarks. Rather than remarks followed by questions, a new format could be for the executive to make a few statements relevant to the issue (key points) and then take questions/comments before moving on to the next segment, followed by questions/comments again.  This would admittedly be less formal, but may also encourage increased transparency and developing collaborative solutions as a company.  Helpful technologies include video conferencing, collaboration sites within SharePoint, and real-time document sharing.  We could also provide a wrap up blog post with space for comments as opposed to the follow-up email.

Richardson, Will. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010. Print.