How can you generate collective intelligence in your company?
Companies are all too often bogged down by power struggles and internal dysfunction, and have everything to gain from streamlining their internal exchanges and processes. Read all our articles on the use of corporate social networks (CSN).
Corporate challenges
Process management
A company is the sum of its processes. The smooth running of the whole will be the result of well-oiled processes. All too often, organisational malfunctions are detrimental to productivity: time-consuming but fruitless "meetings", information that is poorly relayed or lost, lack of exchanges or geographical isolation, time spent looking for information, unproductive time spent dealing with emails, poor distribution of tasks and duplication, etc. All these setbacks lead to a loss of productivity. These are all setbacks that can lead to a loss of responsiveness.
Managing people
A company is a collection of people. Each has his or her own reasons, ambitions and expectations. The issue that brings them together - the company - can quickly take second place. Individual intentions then take precedence, eclipsing the general interest. This is what fuels internal quarrels and hierarchical conflicts. If everyone's skills and potential are undermined, the company no longer benefits. The form is all there, but the substance is empty. Yet the commitment of employees and the human capital they represent are a key factor for the company.
The company's dual challenge
A company has to stand up to the competition. Its key factors of competitiveness are divided into two levels:
- operational: optimising productivity - in this case, the value generated in proportion to the time spent.
- human capital: identifying, recruiting, training and retaining talent. The ability to innovate and adopt a winning business model are strongly correlated here.
Setting up exchanges
The impact of tools
Optimising the management of both processes and individuals depends in particular on the tools available. On a day-to-day basis, companies operate with work tools. The more or less collaborative properties of these tools have a real impact on the nature and quality of internal exchanges.
Collaborative tools...
A number of companies have already set up an EDM: Electronic Document Management. They often also have an intranet. But the intranet is too often a one-way medium, where exchanges are not very interactive. Its more dynamic successor is the CSN: Corporate Social Network.
... unified in a digital workplace
Rather than multiplying work tools in a compartmentalised way, some software publishers, such as Jalios, are proposing to merge them. When the EDM is combined with the CSR, employees use a single interface. Messaging functionalities, collaborative documents and exchange spaces are combined to create a fluid, user-friendly digital platform.
Generating collective intelligence
Combining forces
Better communication means better work. Strengths add up and multiply. The size of a company and the number of its employees are no longer an obstacle to its performance as long as the right tools are in place. There's strength in numbers... as long as it's wisely organised. By structuring workflows, dedicating spaces for informal exchanges and others to frame processes, strengths are pooled in a positive way.
Operational competitiveness
The increasingly popular project mode requires this type of tool. On a day-to-day basis, to enable project teams, which are often geographically dispersed, to work together , as well as from an organisational point of view: choosing the right individuals to take part. More agile, the company is able to react and allocate its human resources efficiently. Jalios, used in particular by the Mucem (Museum of the Civilisation of Europe and the Mediterranean) in Marseille, has made it possible to set up an extranet space facilitating the orchestration of each of the temporary exhibitions. For the Bouhyer Group, an industrial player, the solution has considerably improved the feedback of safety information.
Human competitiveness
Once deployed, a digital workplace is a real driver of commitment. By creating spaces for interaction, the company gives a voice to its employees, and even to its elected representatives. MACIF, a mutual insurance company, has used Jalios to encourage exchanges between its elected representatives. By encouraging them to speak out, MACIF conveys and illustrates its mutualist values.
When you feel listened to, and by extension considered, you're more likely to get involved. It creates a sense of respect and individual responsibility. When everyone has a role, collective intelligence is generated. The organisation is more agile, inviting everyone to step outside their own perimeter and expand their field of intervention. This opportunity to develop skills, coupled with recognition, is a decisive factor in the professional fulfilment of each individual.
Today's digital tools are more interactive than ever. If the technology is there, you need a method for deploying it wisely within your company. Multiplying the number of interfaces and communication channels is detrimental to adoption and the desired practicality. Companies will succeed in generating collective intelligence by unifying the media in a global, "interfaceable" and fluid tool.
Article translated from French