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TIME TO COLLABORATE It is hardly a business secret that working together is the key to success. Alstom’s all-encompassing Collaborative Way programme has allowed the group to get the best out of its communications and its employees. by Michael S. Salone
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ince the first appearance of social media, the way we interact with others has dramatically changed. The latest forms of information and communications technology allow us to improve interaction with those in close proximity but also with those who are far from us. A social medium is designed to be propagated through a form of social interaction created using simple to use publishing techniques. Most social media is web-based and transforms what is usually a one-way interaction into a social media dialogue. It contributes heavily to the spread of information and knowledge transforming internet surfers from consumers to producers and building on the idea and technological foundations of Web 2.0. It allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content (UGC) anywhere at any time. Social media is separate and distinct from conventional mass media like television, film and newspapers. One is cheap, accessible, providing information in little time across the globe not limited by shelf space in the physical world, with wide and fast distribution. The other can take significantly longer to produce, requiring expensive resources and a skilled workforce, and once produced, cannot be altered easily. For social media to work, it relies on interactions and collaboration between people to build on a common meaning and goal using the available technology as a platform.
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THE FOUR CS There are many different definitions of social media, but it can be summarised by using the 4 Cs: content, collaboration, community and collective intelligence. The first C, content, refers to the idea that media tools allow everyone to become a creator by making multimedia free and easy to access, even for those who are not Web 2.0 savvy. Collaboration is about the idea that 01/2010 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
social media has been a major contributing factor to the aggregation and combination of small individual actions into meaningful collective results. These can range from the signing of online petitions, mobilising people toward a specific cause or fundraising, as we saw during the presidential election in the US when millions of people tweeted as they watched the inauguration. Communities are groups of people brought together by common opportunities,
There are many different definitions of social media, but it can be summarised by using the 4 Cs: content, collaboration, community and collective intelligence. problems and forces that may be professional or personal. The last C, probably the most important, is the value brought together by collective ideas and knowledge sharing. The old adage holds true: “Two heads are better than one.” Or, as authors Barry Libert and John Spector say: “We are smarter than me.”
CHALLENGE FOR ALSTOM Social media can take various shapes and forms, such as blogs (Blogger, LiveJournal, Xanga), microblogs (Twitter), social networks (Bebo,
Facebook, hi5) and wikis, online web pages where users can generate and modify content on the site. Like many companies, Alstom is faced with the challenge of staying abreast of socio-technological changes and innovations while harnessing the collaborative potential of employees. New social media tools and communication technologies, now standard networking platforms, are evolving at a furious pace and this major shift cannot be
ignored. We are all used to hearing about B2C companies or other consumer goods companies using social media as a marketing tool. However, for a high tech industrial company such as Alstom, the use of such media is not so evident in the culture, thus challenging everything from hierarchy to intellectual property, ideas that were previously often taken for granted.
COLLABORATIVE WAY Alstom is a leader in the world
of power generation and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom built the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, and provides
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turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind. The group employs 79,500 in 70 countries, and had orders of 24.6 billion euros in 2008/09. With this in mind, Alstom set up the Alstom Collaborative Way (ACW) approach in 2008. ACW was in response to the collision of three forces: people, technology and economics. This programme aims to progressively integrate state of the art collaboration in working practices using communities, networks and collaborative information systems. It is based on the social media model by which anyone can produce, copy and share information with anyone at almost no cost. The scope of the project is to share, search and connect through the use of people databases, methodologies and processes across all functions, projects and business units. This approach is based on experimentations and pilots and is not dictated or predefined. The project will bring many benefits to Alstom and will offer its employees the opportunity to learn and share more with other staff members, help employees change their ways of working and increase staff engagement and involvement across all Alstom businesses. It is hoped that in the short term everybody in the company and not just some, will be able to: replace long written documents by short videos, share their thoughts and feelings with other staff members they might not know, work with complete mobility, draw on the entire talent pool of the entire world and generate ideas on an as-needed basis. But in order to achieve this, it requires new management approaches, to develop ways of integrating communities and Web 2.0 tools, to develop and work on governance policies that support the collaborative culture in the company and to truly understand the different meanss of collaboration within Alstom.
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SUPPORTING THE GOALS We want collaboration to serve our strategic drivers and HR priorities by managing the integration of new employees by meeting their expectations and encouraging them to contribute. We want to improve our operational performance by promoting the dispersion of our activities and people and accelerate access to state of the art practices and their diversity and to make Alstom the best place to work by sharing our culture and values (trust, team, action) and capitalise on expertise and know-how. We can generate organisational effectiveness by helping formal and informal communities be more active and efficient and by avoiding possible silos often created by geographical 01/2010 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The collaborative way New social media tools and communication technologies are evolving at a furious pace and cannot be ignored. Social media can be summarised by using the 4 Cs: content, collaboration, community and collective intelligence. Alstom’s Collaborative Way is in response to the collision of three forces: people, technology and economics. Fostering collaboration can lead to stronger communications, happier employees, and better company results.
location and company history. We strive to help communities achieve breakthrough performance, work smarter not harder, and share information, knowledge and resources. The results of the ACW approach by Alstom are ahead of the curve and according to one recent report
We can generate organisational effectiveness by helping formal and informal communities be more active and efficient. only 9 per cent of companies are using collaborative tools for learning. Within the company three pillars categorise the different types of collaborative possibilities that are on offer to employees. We’ve tried to define this under three pillars: collaborative workplace, communities and people.
DIFFERENT TOOLS The first pillar, collaborative workplace, consists of the tools. There are cur-
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rently 20 document sharing systems where employees can store and retrieve documents held in a variety of formats (currently 140,000 documents are shared through this system), various blogs with an average of 2,000 page views daily, and nearly 100 wikis, a collection
What was not expected, and has been a very positive impact, is our employees have quickly adopted to new technology.
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of web pages allowing users to add or edit content with an average of 22,500 pages views daily. The global financial crisis has also helped us advance with other collaborative tools. Ten Cisco Telepresence conference rooms have been installed globally across Alstom sites and more than 950 web meetings have taken place so far thanks to web conferencing systems. These of course have brought the expected benefits of reduced travel costs. What was not expected, and has been a very positive impact, is that our employees have quickly adopted to new technology they might not have otherwise been ready for, and in addition have seen an impact on work-life balance due to reduced days away from the home.
CONNECTING PEOPLE The second pillar, communities, consists of connecting people with knowledge. There are more than 30 structured communities in the Alstom Collaborative Way programme ranging from indirect sourcing, environment, health and safety (EHS) to the financial graduates community. Within these communities collaboration possibilities exist at all levels
and can be either formal or informal. These should not be confused with teams where members know each other: there are clear task interdependencies, explicit timelines and goals, and there is expected reciprocity. Communities are also based on common interests, however members may not know each other before joining the group. There is a focus on learning with contributions remaining voluntary. By asking questions, obtaining advice and sharing ideas and experience people are able to expand their knowledge and know-how and solve problems in a more informal and direct manner.
GIVING OPPORTUNITIES The third pillar, and the most important under the Alstom collaborative programme, is people. This pillar is not only about the adaptation of training programmes around collaboration with skills that are evaluated and recognised, but also about giving more opportunities to employees to reap the full benefits from what the ACW has to ofMichael S. Salone fer. This pillar also strives Vice President Alstom University to appease the apprehensions employees might have about new technologies or the change in working methods. The expectations the net generation brings to the workforce, and the ability of managers to develop the competencies required American-born Michael S. Sato effectively communicate lone is experienced in strategic as a collaborative leader, is human resources responsibila change we are working on ity in the areas of strategic planning, employee relations, continuously. recruitment, learning and deFostering collaboration velopment and international is an essential need for Alissues in various manufacturing, technical, sales, field and stom, both to successfully corporate environments. He implement its growth strathas been vice president of egy and execute complex opAlstom University since Seperations in the best possible tember 2006. Prior to this, Salone has held different huconditions. We must capiman resources positions at talise on expertise, knowAlstom, such as vice president how, diversity, creativity at management development all levels. Communities help and vice president human resources. Before joining Alstom us go beyond our national in 1998, he managed human frontiers and sustain collabresources activities for Schlumoration across organisational berger in England, the United States and France. boundaries. 01/2010 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
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