Platforms for Collaboration - Article in Stanford Social Innovation Review

I have been doing alot of thinking about the power of co-creating, collaborations, community economics, mimicking "the web of life" in organizational development, etc. as key factors in helping get our civilization out of the mess we have created for ourselves.

I read in the What is Enlightenment? Mag that collaborative behavior is the hallmark of evolution in our society.

David Korten wrote "Using magnetic resonance imaging to take portraits of brain activity, scientists have found that during laboratory excercises that the experience of forming a cooperative alliance with another person produces a storng positive response in the pleasure center of the brain - rather like eating chocolate or engaging in good sex."

A New York Times Article describes the experiments in greater detail.



Stanford Social Innovation Review just published an article by Satish Nambisan, associate professor at Renssaelaer Polytechnic Institute. "Platforms for Collaboration"

His recent book "The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World." outlines the keys for corporations to work with stakeholders inside and outside the enterprise to bring new ideas and products to market.

It begins with

"Some of the brightest ideas for social change grow in the spaces between organizations and sectors. Yet few organizations have systems that make collaboration happen. To foster innovation, organizations need to develop places where they can come together and work creatively—that is, platforms for collaboration. In this article, a management expert identifies three kinds of collaboration platforms—exploration, experimentation, and execution—and then outlines what organizations can do to put these platforms to work for them."

In the article, expert Satish Nambisan discusses the importance of understanding the different platforms of collaboration - Exploration, Experimentation and Execution.

Exploration - Define Core Problems, connect with problem solvers
Experimentation - Develop Solution Prototypes, test prototypes in near-real-world contexts
Execution - Build and disseminate solution templates, Help Adopters adapt to system-wide changes

Additionally he articulates the basic ingredients for collaboration platforms:

KEY INGREDIENTS:

A NETWORK-CENTRIC PERSPECTIVE

Organizations must be able to:
- play supporting roles, rather than controlling the innovation processes
- adapt to the potentially conflicting goals of other partners
- embrace nontraditional partners
- leverage network resources and facilitate two-way flow of ideas and solutions

MODULAR OR PLUG AND PLAY EXPERTISE
- deploy specialized expertise in diverse contexts both quickly and cost-effectively
- integrate expertise with that of partners

A PORTFOLIO OF SUCCESS METRICS
- agree on measures that reflect all stakeholders' concerns
- define project goals in ways that subsume organization-specific goals