PowerHouse™ Portal
A 360 view couldn’t be more important than it is today. With so many things going on within the various sides of an organization at any given moment, there can be a tendency to forget to share pertinent
details with other groups and members. Unfortunately, there might not even be a thought to share information in the first place. Where does sharing start? Where does it end?
Yet, study after study shows that collaboration is one of the key indicators of business success, and that working with one another to share pertinent information leads to increased performance.
(There are five proven elements to operating as a successful team, and you can look at those here, too.)
One of the most recent examples of how this has proven to be true within Power Drives is through the
process of us developing a new website. On the surface, it seems simple, right? A new website just comes down to creating a new design and filling in the applicable details. 3,2,1…launch! Well…not exactly.
Not only is that a nearsighted approach, but it is exclusive in nature. It excludes those whose voices need to be heard, and as with any new project, it’s important to include all relevant voices through each step of development. For us, it started with the question: Who should have a say in what content is on our new website? It came down to everybody. (Mostly.) People from all sides of the organization needed to share their perspectives, as they all have different relationships with our different audiences.
What would a world void of collaboration look like? Awful, for one. Collaboration was at the center of our project from the very moment we decided to launch a new website; had it not been, we would very likely have missed important information, had a much different structure that was not best-suited to the needs of our users, and brought down user experience along the way. Various departments brought their knowledge and thoughts to the table, including engineering, sales, marketing, human resources and quality. No one department can have all of the answers or think through every possible scenario, but the chances of that happening when multiple departments are included increases dramatically.
You can probably think of a few instances where you walked away from a meeting with more information than you had previously, and a better idea of how to solve the problem at hand. This happens all the time, and that’s the power of collaboration, which leads to synergy. You’ve probably also had a situation where somebody provided you with key information a little too late, which made you wonder why you didn’t talk to them before.
It’s not enough to have a dedication to collaboration, because goals without measurements are destined to fail. Why you should encourage and increase collaboration within your organization comes down to best business practices. As stated in this article, “You can only have so much in your head.” And others can only have so much in their heads. Together, you have a culmination of all of that information.
Everybody on your team is there for a reason. Make sure they are sharing their insights consistently, and you will be well on your way to reaching your goals.
