Hello world!

I’ve had this idea for a blog for a long time. I’m so excited to make this site a reality. I’ve been talking for a long time about collaborative tools as a catalyst for culture and organizational change. After getting my master’s or Organization Development and Knowledge Management (ODKM) from George Mason University I became fascinated with organizational culture. Culture tends to lag behind your professed beliefs. Drawing on work from Chris Argyris, organizations have an espoused theory and a theory in use. Often the two are not congruous.

For example, in new employee orientation a new hire might hear “we are a nimble organization and believe in moving to new ideas quickly.” (Espoused theory) Then the new employees goes to their desk and their new co-workers say, “Let me tell you how it really works here, don’t step out of the chain of command.” (Theory in use.)

So what does all that have to do with technology and cultural change. People change when they see changed actions. They need to see people make mistakes and celebrated for trying something different and learning from the attempt. That takes time.

But to accelerator the rate of change, when users are exposed to a new collaborative tool there is a short window in time when you have the ability to affect change. When people engage in a new tool they have the opportunity to view their work differently and leaders have the ability to reinforce new behaviors at that time.

In this site, we will explore this more in-depth and other topics that sit at the intersection of OD (Organization Development), Collaboration and Technology.