One of the main interests of an intranet 2.0 is its ability to favor exchanges and interactions. At the time organization have to be not only productive but also intelligent and when knowledge workers are taking more and more importance, this is a kind of thing companies can’t neglect.
But you will always find people saying “why would I help others ?” or “anyway, others won’t help me”. Are you sure ? Jeremie Berrebi [fr] asked people on Yahoo ! Answers “why do you answer questions on Yahoo! Answers” ? Even if the answer he got were not supposed to concern office behaviours, I found interesting things in.
For example :
– “To score points”. And it’s even the same at work. Don’t forget people help colleagues not only beaucse they want to help, but because they want to be seen helping others…
– “To learn things”. If I help others I also help myself, increasing my knowledge by the way.
– “to have a break when I’m at work”. This could be frighteneing because it implies a lost of productivity. But once you acknowledge people can’t be dedicated to their tasks 100% of their time, that they need a few breaks in their work, would’nt it be valuable that they would spend this moments helping their colleagues ?
My conclusion is that creating win/win interactions on an intranet is not counter-nature, and that people see their own interest in it. Since its also matches the organization’s interest (collaboration increased) we have to look for tools that make it possible. And then explore the possible 2.0 side of your intranet.
