How Facilitated Collaboration Bridges KM and Innovation

Video produced by Steve Nathans-Kelly

Tamara Viles, TechnipFMC innovative learning and KM program manager, explained how facilitated collaboration helps draw innovative ideas from unlikely sources during her presentation at KMWorld Connect 2020.

"KM and innovation have so much in common. It's no surprise that there were tools that would apply to both and facilitated collaboration is a strong solution because it addresses several of the issues we're facing in today's crazy world," she said.

It provides a structured for an unstructured ideation process in both small and large scale scenarios, she explained. The structure also permits a deeper dive into key ideas and allows employees to build and challenge.

"When another suggestion to create what my colleague Lou weeks were at Vegas calls, the bigger brain facilitated collaboration also allows for rapid idea generation," Vile said. "You can collect a large amount of ideas in a short amount of time from knowledgeable crowds and then collaboratively sort and categorize and assess those suggestions. The process is engaging. Employees are empowered and enlightened and actively contribute comment and vote on ideas."

Collaboration can also create buy-in and acceptance because employees are invited to participate in the process. Facilitated collaboration levels the playing field, because it gives an equal voice to all participants, regardless of role, personality or geography. And it helps for diverse collaboration from multiple perspectives in a large population. 

"It's always good to remember that winning ideas can come from unlikely sources," said Viles.