2. New Practice #2: The Internal Collaboration Generator

By nature, PR professionals pride themselves on better communication. You want your programs to be more effective, which means efficiencies in strategic planning, daily PR activities, and overall communications with stakeholders. However, what’s applied for external communications is not always the case inside of your own four walls. With technology at your fingertips, you shouldn’t wait to be tasked with the role to find better ways to communicate with your team. Being in public relations means you’re always looking for enhanced ways to connect for your clients or externally for your own brands—it’s in your DNA. Now it’s time to bring the same approach to the inside of the organization.

Suddenly another new practice is born. PR Practice #2, The Internal Collaboration Generator, is the PR person who works strategically to evaluate how social collaboration can start internally, beginning with team or department sharing and innovation. On your Social Media Strategy Wheel, auditing your own resources, for better communications, occurs during your discovery process, at the center of the diagram (see Figure 2.1). Better communication on the inside results in far better communications on the outside. Having a good process in place that facilitates increased learning and the sharing of information leads to more productivity and communications impact. However, because technology is far more advanced than years past, it’s time for you to think about updating how you collaborate with your peers to reach maximum efficiencies for your company. Turning to technology and the use of a collaborative platform can get a job done more quickly and efficiently, especially when working jointly with other members of the company.

Figure 2.1. The Social Media Strategy Wheel: PR Practice #2

Whether your team is in the same office, in the next state, or across the country, the Internal Collaboration Generator knows how to maximize everyone’s time, boost productivity, and cut down on the email that clogs your email inbox. From past experience in coordinating internal employee programs, events, conferences, and other types of PR initiatives, this professional takes the lead to change a painful process into a pleasant experience for all parties involved. However, you may run up against a counter argument from naysayers about technology and productivity. In 2003, a study conducted by Professor Erik Brynjolfsson at MIT showed little positive growth for the use of technology and increased productivity.¹ However, you can make an argument that in 2003, collaborative technology was not as advanced as it is today. Despite conflicting arguments, numerous tools and platforms are available that take knowledge, sharing, and employee collaboration to a new level.

Of course, doing research on the best ways to communicate internally requires some homework on how the members of your group or department want to connect and share information. You know that varying levels of social media adoption exist for the people who make up a company. Not everyone is an early adopter. So, as much as you want to feed the needs of the socially skilled, you still must address and educate those who may be your late adopters. The best way to find out is to observe their behavior, discuss their challenges, and ask how they want their communication to be improved. Depending on the size of your company and organizational structure, this can determine how you move forward with your research. It’s always best to start with a core group of individuals who you can poll, survey, and even conduct informal, one-on-one interviews to gauge their thoughts about internal collaboration and ways they would want to increase sharing and collaboration with their teammates. Some of your initial research may lead to good insight on what type of sharing is necessary, as well as the required functions in the platform that you choose.

But, be prepared...introducing new ways to communicate within the organization is a cultural challenge. Moving from a traditional communications infrastructure to an internal collaborative platform is a tremendous shift, so you want to ease into the change with a platform that’s hands on and fairly easy to use. There are three critical factors when introducing new technology or communication into the organization. A Vovici Webinar discussed how companies should ask their customers if interactions are useful, easy, and enjoyable. What works externally with customers is often overlooked with a company’s own employees. It takes the same three areas of focus to create an environment in which the communication process fosters greater interaction and learning through its daily use.²

What Are the Responsibilities of the Internal Collaboration Generator?

As an Internal Collaboration Generator, the first part of your practice may be handling concerns or resistance. When moving from an old process to the new, requiring a change or shift in culture, be prepared to transition over time and with perseverance. For as long at it takes to build a solid culture, it takes that long to root a new mindset into an organization’s thinking. However, moving through the steps of change management can help the process assimilate into your organization. If you are the Internal Collaboration Generator, you may also be responsible for the plan of action that moves your organization toward a newer, more updated internal communications model.³

Change management always starts with a sense of urgency. First and foremost, you may need to convince your senior management that a real sense of urgency exists to create a more efficient means to communicate. Finding research or concrete examples of how direct competitors and companies in similar industries use better platforms to innovate internally is a good way to get the buy-in that you need. Of course, if you want serious consideration, you must put together a formal proposal. Loosely discussing and then asking for new communications technology (unless it’s free) does not get you far.

After you receive the buy-in from your executives, it’s time to put together your small team of champions, a Coalition, who can help you to research and find out how your peers feel about new technology and the way they are currently communicating. In some cases, this is the same coalition of champions you used in your policymaking efforts. Your coalition should be individuals who are highly respected by their peers and who can point out some of the obstacles you will encounter, based on their close relationships with the folks who will use the technology the most. A coalition doesn’t necessarily mean a group of upper management. It’s always people who are highly regarded and can change perceptions to create action in your organization.

The third step toward your cultural shift is to have a solid plan in place about the vision and goals of a new communications platform. It’s one thing to use Google docs for sharing, but it’s completely different to have an enterprise type of system, which is far more complex. When you uncover higher-level sharing needs, a plan keeps everyone focused, and employees quickly understand the objectives and value to bring new communications methods into the company. Every communication initiative must be strategic and requires a plan so that the expectations are realistic, and you can benchmark your progress and goals along the way.

Constant communication is step number four and a critical initiative that requires ongoing messages and updates for employees to embrace the change. You may think signage in the restrooms or common lunch areas might be a bit overboard, but it’s important to reach employees wherever they hang out. You must communicate the program’s value and goals more than just once; you can never overcommunicate. Years ago, the CEO of JVC Professional Broadcast Division learned a valuable lesson from his management team. If you don’t state your message and goals at least six or seven times (although it sounds repetitive), it just doesn’t sink in, and people don’t retain the message or intended meaning. He’s done this with his executive, management, and sales teams and has seen how frequent and even repetitive communication leads to greater success.⁴

Cementing some benchmark wins is the fifth step and also crucial to prove to upper management and C-Level executives that the communications change management program is well on its way. They want to see that you’re creating better collaboration among groups of employees. When you can benchmark a win or series of wins (usually by showing increased usage and projects are on time and under budget), this often puts the naysayers at ease and may even get them more focused on being a part of the team. At this point, you minimize any negativity toward the new communication method and creating more positive energy around social collaboration in the company.

Don’t forget to empower your peers along the way, which is step number six. Making your fellow employees feel like they are recognized for moving forward with a new communications process creates energy and momentum. Acknowledgment can be in the form of a public thank-you from a supervisor to gift certificates at favorite restaurants. It’s the employees who become the champions in this effort. Many will watch and learn from the coalition that’s set in place and then help to further direct the effort, feeling more involved in its success.

The last step, which you see over time, is the change rooted in the culture. When change is rooted, years later, post any core team or coalition, the process becomes a natural part of the organization. New hires coming into the firm will be introduced to internal collaboration as a part of their on-boarding process, beginning with the first human resources packet they receive with information about internal employee collaboration. New hires can quickly realize their organization believes in the power of social media communications and innovation on the inside of the company.

Remember, when it comes to internal sharing, in some cases, you may already have tools or platforms in place. Then, it’s simply a matter to determine what would make employees feel more comfortable about using those tools and what additional education is necessary. Whether it’s a simple document-sharing tool, virtual team meetings, project management platforms, or an enterprise platform with full internal social computing capabilities, many underutilize the functions available due to lack of knowledge or inadequate education and training. However, if you start from scratch, it’s up to the Internal Collaboration Generator to take the pulse of those who participate on the new platform and to make sure you put a solution in place to satisfy their communication needs.

It wasn’t so long ago when you simply relied on an email response or a phone call to find out answers from colleagues about a project or a task at hand. Working together on a plan or project meant hours or days could go by before you received what you needed from each member of your team. What you can do today with a large group collaboratively or a team of a few, and even cross functionally between departments, is far superior to how you shared information in the days pre-2.0 collaboration. Internal sharing has always existed in different formats, but it’s never been as productive, efficient, or innovative as it is today.

Determine Your Level of Sharing

For efficient PR planning and better project management, you may find yourself in this newly assigned role. Today, it’s a priority to find the best way your communications department or any department can use technology to share information and collaborate with other teams across the company. Of course, so many options are available for selecting the right technology or platform to share internally with your team. The goal is to make the strategic planning process or your project more productive and to make technology work for you. First, you must identify why you need certain functions and what you want to achieve by using collaborative technology.

Following are several questions to ask when you need to determine what level of sharing is necessary:

• What kind of internal communications tools are required? Should they include messaging, discussion forums, wikis, blogs, and chat functions?

• Do you want your platform to have RSS feeds?

• What are the sharing capabilities? Will they include links, file attachments, and documents editing?

• Do you need a platform that has project management capabilities with alerts, team updates, and the ability to post comments and to assign due dates?

• What about group setup? Are there subgroups and discussion forums to collaborate and innovate?

• Do you have the ability to hold meetings and to give a virtual group presentation?

• What is the ease of setup and use, including the managing and uploading of content?

• What kind of technical support is necessary for your team?

• Are there social computing capabilities, such as setting up team member profiles?

• Is customization available? Does the platform enable employees to add designs and photos and maintain the brand’s identity?

• Is there email integration or Instant Messaging (IM)?

• What about microblogging capabilities; will this be an easier way to communicate for your team?

• What type of training is available through the platform provider?

• What is your budget, and what is the pricing structure of the platform?

After you answer the questions to clearly identify your communications needs, the next step is to determine what type of platform is the best solution. Before you begin reviewing different platforms, the Internal Collaboration Generator must understand the various levels of collaboration. The ability to share can be divided into different phases:

• Sharing Phase I: Simple Document Sharing and Project Management

• Sharing Phase II: Collaboration and Web Presentations

• Sharing Phase III: Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration and Innovation

For the Sharing Phase III (the most advanced phase), if you’re a part of a large organization, check to see if you already have a collaborative enterprise platform in place. There may be many capabilities available to you and your team through an existing platform. In this case, rolling up your sleeves to get more training is required. It’s often a lack of understanding and training that prevents communications professionals from using these resources to their fullest capacity.

Following are the three levels of sharing accompanied by a few examples of collaborative tools and platforms.

Sharing Phase I: Simple Document Sharing and Project Management

Many communications professionals are already familiar with the simple sharing tools and know that they can share spreadsheets and documents, all edited in real time. Some of the tools are browser-based applications with minimal requirements to start the sharing process. Team members can share and store their work online wherever an Internet connection is available. The simple sharing platforms also provide free, web-based meeting playgrounds. Several of these tools offer no-hassle whiteboard solutions for collaborating online. In some cases, you can browse websites and even draw on them, which help when evaluating competitors during your planning phases. You can share files and graphics, review and mark them up, and chat with your team.

Other great features in Sharing Phase I include audio options, if you want to communicate verbally with team members who don’t necessarily want to draw on the online whiteboard.

Sharing is made easy when a platform enables you to start with a blank slate and to draw lines, shapes, text boxes, and even upload various kinds of media to gather feedback from your teammates and other meeting participants. If you’re looking for project management, Sharing Phase I also enables the sharing of files, posting comments, and assigning due dates. If your organization is mobile-based, you can also find project management platforms that can be accessed through mobile devices such as the iPad. A few of the Phase I sharing platforms include Google Docs, Basecamp, Twiddla, Zoho Projects, and One Hub.

In addition, specialized platforms are available for PR and marketing agencies that enable you to work on specific campaigns and to manage the campaign in a private and secure environment. This type of solution is slightly more advanced with the ability to invite outside influencers into the platform, for example, to share your client’s virtual media kits, to book interviews for executives with the media, and to download media kit materials, in addition to coordinating and managing the campaign with your teammates. You learn more about specialized campaign management software in the interview with Ariel Hyatt, founder of Cyber PR, later in the chapter.

Sharing Phase II: Collaboration and Web Presentations

In addition to reviewing and annotating documents and making content available over time for your team, you can consider Sharing Phase II as your always-available real-time meeting room. This type of platform is great when you’re on deadline and your colleagues are situated in different areas of the country or even around the world. It enables you to review and annotate documents with your team, cutting down on the large amounts of email that accumulate during your program’s strategy and planning process. Phase II sharing includes uploading images, files, documents, and videos into your meeting room for discussion and review. Presentation functionality enables you to review your plans and even share your desktop with a larger group of colleagues online. Most of the platforms in Phase II have teleconferencing and Voice over IP (VoIP) features. You can also invite additional participants including customers, partners, consultants, and other collaborators outside your organization, who can easily access the workspace with no software to install on their end. A few of the Phase II sharing platforms include Vyew, WebEx, GoToMeeting, and Skype.

Sharing Phase III: Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration and Innovation

The final phase of sharing is the most sophisticated. Sharing Phase III is most widely considered as enterprise software solutions for internal collaboration, file sharing, and document management. These platforms are used across geographies and for cross-functional team collaboration. Phase III is excellent for sharing marketing plans, organizational charts, editorial calendars, and project plans. You can customize and brand your pages and profiles and set access and permission levels for any content that needs to be shared by your department and with other groups in the company. Other great functionality includes team collaboration and brainstorming in forums, wikis, and blogs. Phase III can include an entire library of documents as well as a social computing network, which is set up internally for your organization. Phase III sharing platforms include Microsoft SharePoint 2010, IBM Enterprise 2.0, Socialcast, and Socialtext.

Selecting Your Level of Sharing

For all the levels of sharing, it’s critical for your team to review, experiment, and then put a suitable collaboration platform to good use. Your understanding and ability to use the technology internally can also help educate other team members about the value and productivity it brings to the organization. Using collaborative technology doesn’t mean you can’t pick up the phone or send that email, when necessary. There will be times when you decide that walking down the hall to visit with a colleague face-to-face is the best approach. Remember, the technology facilitates great sharing, but it’s always the people that make the sharing and innovation a successful part of a company’s communications process.

Michael Brito, author of Smart Business, Social Business and VP at Edelman Digital, has worked with teams internally to improve employee collaboration. Michael shared his thoughts about PR professionals and their use of new technologies inside the organization.

Q: Do you think that PR agencies in general have been quick or slow to adopt new technologies to collaborate internally?

A: For the most part, I would say that many agencies are definitely slow to adopt new technologies that support collaboration. Of course, that certainly doesn’t mean they don’t collaborate; it’s just usually through the traditional forms of communication like email. On the digital team at Edelman, we do use collaboration and project management tools like Basecamp to communicate with developers and project managers.

Q: How important are internal collaboration, idea sharing, and innovation?

A: Collaboration and idea sharing is fundamental for innovation. And from a communications perspective, it’s imperative to find new ways to communicate with stakeholders, whether internal or external. Often times, we get into this habitual way of thinking whereby we do things the same way day in and day out because “that’s the way it’s always been done.” This way of thinking is cancerous to growth and gives birth to organizational silos that plague many companies today.

Q: Does better communication on the inside of the organization lead to better external communications with the public?

A: Yes, I firmly believe that for organizations to have effective, meaningful conversations with its constituents externally, they must have effective, meaningful conversations internally first. This is much more than weekly/monthly conference calls. It requires a fundamental change in behavior from the senior leadership down to individual stakeholders. Otherwise, there will be a continuous disconnect with external customers.

Q: What are some of the better internal collaborative platforms you’ve used or your teams have used?

A: One platform that I currently use is Yammer. It’s cost-effective and provides real-time opportunities to share with the teams within different job functions as well as globally. What I find useful in Yammer is that it allows me to create groups based on topics, so I can look for/share/distribute content based on the subject matter.

Q: When evaluating a platform, what are the most useful functions to help your teamwork more creatively and efficiently on a program?

A: For me, there are a few levels of functionality that are important. As a global firm, we have team members in other countries that we need to collaborate with. So, scale is hugely important for me. Then comes the translation of either content and conversations or general marketing assets. In addition, a content library is essential in order to scale external marketing programs, which is essential to ensure consistency of communications across regions.

An easy approach to selecting the right platform is to compare what technology you need versus the platforms that are available, and which align with your budget. You can set up a matrix that allows you to evaluate your specific objectives for collaboration (listed in the far-left column) and then compare the functionality to a few platform choices (listed across the top row) you believe might be the best solution. For example, if you are looking for more sophisticated collaboration with the ability to set up an internal social computing network, with sharing and collaboration tools, and have a small- to medium-sized budget, you would compare such as Grou.ps, Ning, and Socialtext.

The Internal Collaboration Generator works through the matrix process to find the best solution to facilitate better communication. Of course, for free tools, several resources enable you to take advantage of better sharing capabilities. Some platforms have a “freemium” version, and you can upgrade to a paid subscription over time. If you determine that your best solution requires a budget, you need to create a cost benefit analysis on the platform(s) of choice to present to your executives.

The analysis must include the cost of each platform and why the benefits may outweigh that cost. You also want to note the pros and cons of each platform. The goal is to find the platform that has the most benefits and is reasonably priced; one that can increase in productivity and ultimately save your organization marketing dollars. Preparing this analysis is a “formal” task. Just like anything in social media, the more research, information, and case study examples you can show to illustrate how collaborative technology can benefit your department, or even cross functionally, your executives will take notice.

What Are the Best Practices of the Internal Collaboration Generator?

Ariel Hyatt is a thought leader in the digital PR world: the founder of a successful PR firm, international speaker and educator, and the author of two books on social media and marketing for artists. Ariel’s Cyber PR^® process marks the intersection of social media with engaged behavior, PR, and online marketing. Ariel foresaw the impact of the Internet and social media and shares her thoughts on PR and technology.

Q: Why is it important for PR people to use collaborative technology and what are the benefits?

A: I am always amazed when PR professionals tell me about the frustration they are feeling in their firms and with their colleagues because all of them are not on the same page, and then their campaigns begin to feel disjointed. When a PR effort lacks consistency, it will also lack results. This is where collaborative technology comes in to save the day. Collaborative technology saves an incredible amount of time and energy. The main benefit is that the entire team from the lead publicist to the interns get to know exactly who has pitched which outlets and what the results are in real time. Other benefits are the agency owner/account executive actually tracks not only the results and outcome but also the effort and actions put in by her team. With collaborative technology, you will never again wonder what your staff has done or what tasks are completed internally. Another massive benefit is on the client side. Clients can track exactly what their PR teams are doing, and the question “What is my PR firm doing for me?” disappears. A PR firm that can run campaigns when its clients feel at ease because they can see the efforts will run more smoothly and effectively.

Q: How does the project management platform lead to better campaign results?

A: It is no secret that what you measure and monitor will produce better results. A project management platform helps you to measure consistently throughout the entire campaign, which leads to keeping your eye on the proverbial prize. Project management also allows everyone on the team to understand all the efforts being made. It is incredible how much time can go into a campaign and the efforts never get tracked. With a project management platform, they do and will.

Q: In the past, has there been slow integration of technology platforms for campaigns into the PR agency or the marketing communications firm?

A: I believe that there has. Their cost, the learning curve, and the fact that they just take time to implement are hindrances on a busy agency.

The problem of being a PR team is you are consistently living in a world of overwhelm. You need to satisfy demanding clients who consistently check in, and you must constantly manage their expectations. Plus, you must always be on the hunt to generate new business to keep your firm alive. This leaves little room to adapt a whole new platform, train your staff on how to use it, and integrate it into your already wildly busy (and probably quite functional, thank you very much) day-to-day agency.

Internal Collaboration Generator Checklist

Check to see what platforms, tools, and resources are currently available in your organization.

Research the pros and cons of current sharing practices, and ask peers how they would like to share, collaborate, and innovate together.

Answer the Sharing Questions to determine which collaborative platform is best for your current situation and one that reflects future growth.

Select a level of sharing, whether it’s Phase I, Phase II, or Phase III.

Roll up your sleeves and demo/test different platforms for ease of use and functionality.

Set up your matrix comparison of your team/department needs versus the capabilities of the platform.

Decide if you need to implement a change management program to help peers to move from old communication to new ways of sharing in the organization.

Determine your budget, which may require a formal presentation with a cost benefit analysis of various platforms.

Communicate and train employees about the value of collaborative technology.