Wikis And Clusters Of Competitiveness

Clusters of competitiveness are growing in popularity all around the world as a way to organize industrial actors in an effective way. They allow the creation of pool where resources are available for companies to pursue their operations in a driving environment. In order to make the most out of clusters, using a wiki to share information and knowledge between members is more than a sound idea : it is the next move on your agenda.

A cluster is a men's adventure

Rather than anything else, a successful cluster is a geographic zone where like-minded people can share, exchange and interact. A cluster by itself provides no more than an environment for business contacts, a pool of skilled workers, good communication structures... It's up to its members to make it live up to a successful venture rather than a failed attempt. To sustain human interactions in the context of a cluster, using a wiki is more than relevant.

How a Wiki could help Your Cluster

The fact is, most spoken information is lost on the rather short term. Even piles of e-mail do not end up in organized, searchable chunks of information. Using a wiki would allow companies to put all the untold information in one place and interact with it. Imagine an evolutive repository of companies, people, projects where information is kept up to date by those who have to rely on it to get things done : members. Then add a layer of collaborative tools and feeds to keep in touch with what is happening and you get a good idea of what a wiki could bring your cluster.

Does this really make sense ?

Just think about all the stuff you think about in one given day that could lead to great ventures, but is lost for it lacks a place to be expressed. Then think about what would happen if you could share this with the people who fit best your own profile : the other guys from your cluster. This place could exist, if only you took the step of creating a wiki. You could start one for a groupwork, an then extend it to see what is happening. But beware : if you taste it, you will never feel the same.

Want more ? Stay tuned.

© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

The Bottle In The Sea Model

Some companies have decided to fight against the Paper-Plane Model (described below). They took a brave step : they decided to implement a Content Management System (CMS) ! This allowed them to switch from a system where e-mails are everywhere to another where information is centralized ... but no one actually goes through it.

The Model

In the Bottle-In-The-Sea Model, people put their files and documents in a centralized space where they are supposedly able to access and work on it easily. In practice however, most of this content is sunk somewhere and not seen by anyone. Although one may keep track of the last 10 documents, he is soon lost in version revision history. Content is there but ease of use nowhere.

Why does it work this way ?

The problem with CMS systems is that information is in a raw format, without structure. Although you can find about anything somewhere, you will not understand what are the connexions between the pieces of information you will find. This is due to the fact that CMS are built as repositories, not as user-friendly softwares.

Let me guess ... A wiki ?

The main advantage of a wiki over a CMS is that it allows you to give added value to the content you enter in the system. People can work directly on the page to which a document is attached. You know what your document is, in what context it should be understood. Research results are better too. Now you know what the data you found relates to. Not only do you have data, now you have meaning too.

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© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

The Paper - Plane Model

Communication in contemporary enterprises often looks like a darts game : I throw mine, and hope it will reach its target. The matter is, you hit the center only from times to times and all the remaining darts are quite unuseful. How does this relates to communication inside enterprises ? Just think about the way you are using e-mail. How many of those you receive are direclty relevant to you ?

The Paper-Plane Model

This model summarizes the point made before. It describes how, in companies, communication solutions (and specifically e-mail) are used to throw paper -planes containing data in many directions, hoping that something will come back from all these efforts. Paper is everywhere, information nowhere. Requests for contents are not organized in any coherent way as every individual tries to creates its own database with sent and received planes. The question is, why does this happen ?

Underlying Factors

All this has to do with the way people share texts and documents through e-mail. The ease of use of the application let everybody free to add copied recipients, to send uninformative messages, and so on. Every request generates a new message, even though the query may have been previously answered somewhere. Ever had this feeling of déjà-vu when you received a "new" question ? There is no central repository for the contents already created that could be browsed to retrieve information. But then, does a solution exist to solve this problem ?

A Solution Through Wikis

A wiki offers a good way of escaping the paper-plane model. It provides a centralized space where information can be added and modified easily by users. What's more, this space can be easily browsed through an integrated search engine. All your information is in the same place, always available and up to date. The number of planes is highly reduced, and the ones still in use carry more relevant information. Their content is progressively integrated into a database of all available knowledge in your company. Move on from the paper - plane model, go Wiki !

Want more ? Stay tuned.

© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

A Wiki as an integrated communication solution

So you would like to start getting the most of what Internet offers in terms of communication potential, both inside your company and with your customers ? New wiki solutions can help you achieve this goal. Featuring a classic website as well as a blog and a wiki interface, they will give you the flexibility and strength you're after.

A classic website

If you want to build a powerful and flexible website but lack technical knowledge, you may consider a wiki to this end. A wiki would allow you to create a website from scrap with a few pictures and written material. Then you could add new pages and features (such as a calendar or a photo album) if required. The architecture is flexible and let you create new section as your business grow. And all this cost effectively.

A Blog

Blogs are increasingly being used for corporates purposes. They give your company a space to publish updates and product news as well as insight in its field of activity. A blog is easy to update and require nothing else but an ability to write (which hopefully you have). Their spread and skyrocketing utilization in various enterprise contexts (communication on a project, on an initiative...) are a testimonial of their efficiency in this setting.

A space for collaborative work

Modern organigrams require more and more teamworking to be conducted. Classice-mail solutions do not meet the requirements induced by this evolution. Group initiatives are often impaired by a lack of structure to sustain the coordination of individual work. A wiki-based solution allows a quick flows of information as well as easy document management. Your team can coordinate itself and get its members to work rather than losing time in unhelpful meetings.

Your business could gain access to huge resources if it was using a wiki-based solution to integrate its various online communication processes. Take a step into the future of online communication, try a wiki solution !

Want more ? Stay tuned.

© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

If this article interested you, you might like XWiki. The company provides integrated wiki-based solutions to companies all over the world and is the most advanced on its market.

Wiki solutions for SMEs

In small businesses more than anywhere else, time means money. What does this have to do with wikis ?

Wikis ease coordination problems

As a small business, you have to handle work with multiple partners. Let's say that you are an architect : you have to work with your clients, subcontractors, builders, and so on. In order to do that you will have to send dozen of e-mails to them, often including attachments and forwarded through akward channels to people that should not receive them. Or you could choose to centralize all the relevant information in a virtual space that the people you are working with can access at any time, edit to add / correct informations and stay up to date with what is happening. This is what a wiki can do for you.

Wikis are a multidimensionnal solution

For your small business, a website is indispensable. A website ... or a blog ? How do you choose ? A wiki is an effective answer to this dilemma. Most wikis include a blog function, which mean that you will have a space to communicate quickly and easily on your company. Access Rights Management features let you choose who may have access to selected pages of your site. Here is a quick picture of what you can do : A few pages that everybody can see but only you edit, where you present your company and its products (you can even allow customers to buy online), another part where pages can be accessed and edited by your customers, your partners and you in order to manage specific projects, and a blog to post information about your business sector and additional updates about what's happening in your company.

Wikis are cheaper than supposedly "custom-designed" solutions

As a small business, your monetary resources are limited and you don't want to waste them. A wiki provides you with a preexisting interface that you can organize your way, and let you focus on what truly matters : write content relevant to your business and update it easily, without technical concerns. You will not have the flash animations that annoys your readers anyway, but rather an effective website that will cost you only a fraction of what a webdesigner would have asked. And you won't be bothered with the fact that you cannot add content when your webmaster is on holiday.

Wikis are a good solution for many small businesses needs when it comes to creating a website and managing projects with numerous actors involved. Now your Small Business can go Web 2.0 easily, just try a wiki !

Want more ? Stay tuned.

© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

Pump your Intranet Up ! using a Wiki

So your company have been using an intranet for years, without any tangible result ? Looking forwarg to getting a system easy to install and that really works ? Here is what you can do !

A wiki is user-centered

Unlike your current system, where everything has to go through a webmaster before reaching the intranet, a wiki-powered system allows selected users to contribute and add content easily. Your out-of-date intranet will become a souvenir as soon as you will allow your employees to use it in order to communicate on what really matters for their job. Information stays current and can be shared among teams more efficiently. Now business needs rule, not the poor structure of your software !

Access Rights Management is easy

Stop wondering for years wether Mr Smith has access to the B-Zone that requires him to get a pass from the IT department ... in 3 weeks of time. You can tune access rights efficiently, with any level of detail (from the whole site to a single page, from all users to a given one). This means that you can easily control who sees/edit/comment on what and keep confidential information ... confidential. But also that you can provide access to a workspace to the new member of your team, who has been detached to work with you for those 3 weeks.

You can share documents (at last !)

The matter with e-mail is that one hardly (never?) knows wether he received the last version of this PowerPoint presentation he is supposed to present with his team on Monday. But the Content-Management System supposedly designed to handle this task is too obscure for anyone to actually use it. With a wiki, you can easily add any document to a given page, get it, modify it and put it back there, so that others know that they always get the current version to work on. No more "I though this version was the right one" when your more important slide is missing on Monday...

Using a wiki as an intranet fosters communication between employees and boosts productivity. Get rid of the skeleton that hangs on your server, it's time to go wiki !

Want more ? Stay tuned.

© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

How a Wiki may help reduce stress in your company

Stress at work is becoming an increasingly important problem for many companies (unsurprisingly : it costs UK industry £3.7 billion each year). This has led to many solutions being proposed by various consultants firms, often at an expensive cost. However, recent surveys show that basic organizational and training issues are playing a role in a large number of stressful situations. This article will argue that some of these issues can be successfully tackled by using a corporate wiki.

Why stress ?

Basically, stress is as much a physical as en emotional problem. Facing a high level of demand or a feeling that your workload is getting out of control weakens your body's resources and leaves you more vulnerable to other illnesses. It may occur in the form of headaches or stomach pains. Conversely, emotional fragility means that you are likely to react to situations in ways that will surprise others, either because you are concerned too much with minor problems - or the opposite.
Stress occurs most of the time when individuals are faced with situations they fell they cannot handle although they should be able to, or when the level of personal investment in the success / failure of a project is high. A typical stress - provoking situation occurs wherever a bundle of complex information has to be dealt with in a limited amount of time, without proper support.
It is a real concern for companies because it may affect as much as one in five persons in a given workplace and is the principal responsible factor for sickness absences.

What can you do ?

In a recent Guardian article, you can find an outline of a broader research that has been conducted on stress-causing situations and how to relieve workers. The study found out that one of the most important purveyor of stress where poor management practices. This comes as no surprise given the lack of specific training of most people that get access to management responsibilities. A few best practices have been identified, and this is where I think wikis have a role to play (You can find out what a wiki is there). By providing organization with a lightweight virtual structure, wikis allow staff empowering at a low cost and boost work effectiveness by cutting on coordination costs. Here is a list of the practices and the way wikis can help implement them :

1. Better management of employees workflow. Managers tend to give their employees important amount of work without considering their current workload. A wiki would allow people to contribute to project in a common place they can access at any time, from everywhere. This means that instead of assigning one project to one person, you may name a coordinator that will administrate the project working space, where staff can log-in at any time when they are able to and contribute. Hence people with less workload than others would have more time to go there, have a look and get things done. Even though this does not suppress work involvement problems, it leads people into managing their rhythm of work and give them back control, which is important to avoid stressful situations which course we feel we cannot influence .
2. Engaging employees in decision-making. This is a direct correlate of the previous point. If people can regain control on their workload, they will be more willing to participate and take their share of what has to be done. We tend to be more involved in projects we can effectively influence. A wiki helps building a structure where everyone can contribute and add his own brick to the whole building.
3. Effective communication. "Why am I asked to do this ? What is all this for in the end ?" are common questions popping into our brains when asked to perform tasks which purpose we do not understand at first. The answer to this set of issues lies in communication. Telling people why they are asked to do things, asking them whether they could be done in a more efficient manner, reviewing their attitude towards their current work is really important. A wiki offers a space that all of them can edit to make suggestions, build a common idea, reflect on their practices and how to improve them. Most important, if read and contributed to by managers, it shows people you care about them and you feel interested in what they are doing.
4. Considering people as full-scale human beings. We do not need to go back to Kant and his theory that people have to be considered as ends by themselves, not only means to accomplish things to understand the validity of this point. We are working with people who experience feelings, who have ideas, and so on. Valuing their contribution to the community, working in collaboration with them on the space wikis provide to tap into their knowledge and potential are opportunities a company has to consider.
5. Last but not least : Show empathy ! This is what this article is all about, and this is what a wiki may contribute to. Interact with people, work collaboratively, value their contribution, show them why what they do is important for the company are things a manager should not forget to do. Getting the best out of people is a really thrilling experience, and this is what a wiki can do. By centralizing information, having all people to contribute to, taking into account eeveryone views and transforming them in a useful piece of work, wikis offer a real solution to a real problem.

These solutions are aiming at reducing the occurence of stressing situations and helping corporate environment running more smoothly by increasing the level of awareness between members of staff. As a collective entity, a company contains much more useful information than any of its members. The core issue lies in getting all the dots to connect. Stressful situations happen when this connecting process is understood as a matter of hierarchical relations, orders and lack of concern for people. Using a wiki provides a way towars the acknowledgement of the importance of everyone place in a company.

Conclusion

The hardest part of this schedule is likely lying in the fact that, given they lack specialized training, many managers still fail to acknowledge these core issues in people management. A good way to have them realize how the abilities of people can be used by using a tool that allow them to interact in a flexible way, build strong work-related documents, communicate effectively and coordinate their tasks. By giving back some control to the base, wikis helps getting people involved in their jobs. And, in the end, reduce the global level of stress. There is no perfect solution to stress problems. But there is interesting ways to try to reduce them.

Want more ? Stay tuned.

© Guillaume Lerouge for WikiBC

References

Frost, Vicky (2006), "Can your manager manage ?", Saturday Guardian, Work 2 Section, 21/10/2006, pp. 1&2