I’ve mentioned in the past how business is no longer a top down hierarchy or a command and control environment.  These days it’s all about connecting and collaborating.  With this in mind, I’ve seen lists and watched videos about the benefit of using Wiki tools internally with your teams.   New ways of doing business require upgrading the tools you use to achieve your business goals.  Is your company still using old tools?

Here is an example of one new tool that many feel can change the productivity of meetings, along with the way your employees view them.   Right now, many employees have negative feelings toward meetings.  They are not productive, too much time is wasted, and too much irrelevant conversation takes place without anything getting accomplished.  Traction Team professes to make meetings shorter and far more productive and I can see how this would be true. 

 The idea is to start by posting an agenda for a meeting on the page in advance.  Participants could then contribute and edit the agenda.  Although this sounds like a bit of a nightmare - multiple people editing an agenda –  think about it from the collaboration perspective. 

This tool provides the ability to have threaded conversation regarding the document and that could mean that some of the agenda line items get resolved before the meeting even takes place.  Employees could volunteer within this team page to handle certain tasks, thereby removing them from the agenda.  A priority list could also emerge, making the meeting far more productive when it actually takes place.  This is also a place where knowledge and information are shared and documented and can be accessed in the future.  Rather than emails going back and forth or a summary document each employee receives after the meeting, there is now a place the entire community can access and use as a reference to refresh their memory of what took place or see who was assigned which task.   This could also be helpful to the team when they begin a new initiative because it will show a roadmap of past decisions and help them see what was effective and what was not.

There are literally hundreds of these tools available that can be embedded into the workflow to encourage collaboration, productivity, and communication.  One of your roles in HR is to communicate with your employees.  Have you recommended any upgrades?  Does your organization use tools like this?  Have they improved communication with your employees?  What experiences have you had?  Please share examples in the comments.