Do legacy technology users fear collaboration?
Jason Lamon and I recently wrote an article for CMS Wire on moving from an environment of “Need to Know” to one of “Need to Share”. This article focused on the fact that the technology environment can either help or hinder collaboration. While we work collaboratively, we are organized hierarchically. Several folks have pointed out that the cultural shift required in rolling out new collaboration technology is really the “hardest” part of the shift. They suggest that technology is doomed to fail because some people just wont accept change.
Bosh!
This is an old concern and is growing increasingly tired each day. In fact it suggests an assumption that says “older people” don’t like new technology or new processes. This view is both flawed and outdated. First, age is increasingly irrelevant when it comes to technology adoption. Second, all groups of people have different ways of dealing with change in technological and work-habits.
How many people use social computing and collaborative technologies in their daily lives? How many of you have parents or older siblings on Facebook? Just look at the adoption of LinkedIn, NetFlix, Facebook, Picasa, Orkut etc. Adoption of these collaboration technologies is massive throughout ALL demographic categories. It’s not just generation Y. Andrew Gilboy of Oracle proclaimed this week that “[to E20] Generation Y is dead”. The reality is that your age and presumed crankiness with all things new is less important than having the tools you’ve come to know and use. According to 2011 demographic data for LinkedIn the highest percentage of users are in the 35-54 age range with about 7% being in the over 54 age range. Barrier to collaboration and new tools and learning a new UX? Doubtful.
Defying Demographic Bias
Think about the adoption of the WII, netflix, Facebook and LinkedIn. How did that happen? There was a personal learning curve, a new culture to interact with, new social norms to learn and observe. Did that kill adoption? Certainly not.
I don’t mean to minimize the level of effort in rolling out enterprise collaboration. But neither should we become shrinking-violets and hand-wringers worrying about how Thatoneguy in Procurement will cope with the transition.
Remember that any time someone changes jobs, gets promoted into a new role or starts up a new office these exact same risks/concerns apply. Does that stop people from taking a better job or joining a new company? Not usually. There’s an “onboarding” plan for new employees. Collaboration Technology implementations should have similar onboarding plans.
This should include sponsors and champions from the grass roots as well as the decision-making suite. It should include detailing benefits in terms of what the technology platform does for YOU rather than ‘the business’. It should include specific process oriented tasks so that casual users (i.e. most of them) can easily identify when and how to best use the technology to help them get their jobs done.
Do that, mix it with the technology that is capable of meeting the need and you’ll have success.
