Collaboration Inspiration

Recently, we reached out to the author of an insightful new collaboration book - Creative Conspiracy: The Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration. The author, Professor Leigh Thompson, is the the J. Jay Gerber Professor of Dispute Resolution & Organizations in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Inspirational collaborative project: Underheard in New York.

Underheard in New York is an initiative to help homeless residents in New York City speak for themselves. We’ve provided Danny, Derrick, Albert and Carlos each with their own mobile phone, a month of unlimited text messaging and a Twitter account. They’ve found their voices by texting their thoughts, feelings and actions to Twitter. Our mission is to use their social media presence to create real interaction and make them a part of our global community.

Inspirational collaborative project: This creative crowdsource project allows LEGO fans to propose LEGO sets they'd like to see, and garner community support for their ideas. Top ideas may be produced as a real LEGO product.

Review and takeaways from Manage Your Day-to-Day, Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind.

Characteristics of a Good Leader #infographic

This "Workplace Trust" #infographic uses the Jacobs model to identify 8 ways to improve employee trust. Applies even more so to #virtualteams.

If you've ever had responsibility for the success (or failure) of a team before, then you'll know how difficult it can be to get each member firing on all cylinders and working together in harmony and unison - developing seriously effective teams is no walk in the park.

Forming teams is the key success factor in engagement. Executives have ranked employee health, satisfaction and productivity above energy costs and real estate as their top concerns. Many wellness programs promise high engagement but have a participation rate as low as 4 percent. What's missing?

When it comes to collaboration and teamwork, it's easy to get frustrated. But no need. Take a look at these top 5 collaboration TED Talks. These will really jump start your day.

Collaborative leadership, as defined by the Collaborative Lead Training Co., "is a philosophy of leadership where the leader becomes a facilitator instead of an authority figure and allows the team or a group of people to collectively discuss problems, make decisions and innovate solutions."

The Collaborative Economy presents an unstoppable wave of people trading, renting and borrowing all kinds of services and goods in new ways. Companies that don't pay attention to this trend are leaving themselves in a state of risk, as technology and society continue to innovate at a spectacular pace.

An online collaboration and communication platform pays off with significant benefits - but only if the entire company uses it. Here's how to get everyone onboard. I've been working as part of virtual teams since the days of dial-up. Back then, collaboration took the form of emailing documents back and forth.

With just a few keystrokes at any time of the day, we're able to communicate and engage with people from across the globe ... and great things are happening! Take a look at how some people are changing the world through global collaboration.

http://www.ted.com After re-purposing CAPTCHA so each human-typed response helps digitize books, Luis von Ahn wondered how else to use small contributions by many on the Internet for greater good. At TEDxCMU, he shares how his ambitious new project, Duolingo, will help millions learn a new language while translating the Web quickly and accurately -- all for free.

http://www.ted.com Britta Riley wanted to grow her own food (in her tiny apartment). So she and her friends developed a system for growing plants in discarded plastic bottles -- researching, testing and tweaking the system using social media, trying many variations at once and quickly arriving at the optimal system.

http://www.ted.com At TEDxSydney, Rachel Botsman says we're "wired to share" -- and shows how websites like Zipcar and Swaptree are changing the rules of human behavior. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

http://www.ted.com Here's a crazy idea: Persuade the world to try living in peace for just one day, every September 21. In this energetic, honest talk, Jeremy Gilley tells the story of how this crazy idea became real -- real enough to help millions of kids in war-torn regions.

Successfully implementing an online collaboration platform isn't just as simple as picking the right features, sending out the user and invitations and instantly having a more productive workforce. To ensure your online collaboration platform implementation is a success, make sure it reflects these key workplace trends.

Didn't get to attend the Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit? We've got the social highlights for you. I had a great time at Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit, May 5-7, 2014, in Los Angeles this week, connecting with customers and hearing the latest trends and predictions from Gartner analysts, speakers, and attendees.

How in the heck are we supposed to be getting all of the work we have to do done, when our life is filled with multiple interruptions? We have meeting after meeting - many of which are a waste of time. Our email inbox's unread email counts are mounting.

It's easy to get bogged down in silos at work, with each employee isolated, working on their specific deliverables. This can leave your employees feeling disengaged and disconnected from your company's mission, and their unique part in activating it.

Don't you just love it when you stumble across a group of people who "get you?" Maybe they share your love for hot air balloons, your fascination with zombies, or your goal to ride every single roller coaster in the world. Whatever the reason, when great minds come together with similar passions, it can be magic.