How 3M Forged a Culture of Collaboration - The Diigo Meta page

• 10 Sep 09
  

  Vahid Masrour

  Classical Knowledge Management in action. Cool stuff.

  km innovation collaboration

• 03 Sep 09
  

  Noah Sparks

  new science innovation creation information connected network open boundaries

  • For spreading knowledge across the company, the database is invaluable, but the real work of collaboration happens face-to-face, often at events organized by TechForum, an employee-run organization designed to foster communications between scientists in different labs or divisions. Such networking, says Larry Wendling, vice-president of 3M's corporate research labs, "is 3M's secret weapon."
  • Such sharing of resources is almost impossible when different units of a company feel they are competing against each other to deliver better financial results or the next breakthrough technology. But at 3M, employees are expected to collaborate—and are evaluated on their success. So for a basic scientist like Schultz, patents are nice but what his manager really wants to see is his research leading to new products for the business units. "Bill needs a Sumita to take his work, link it with a consumer need, and turn it into something of value," says Wendling.
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  Bertrand Duperrin

  The Post-it company built and nurtured a system in which employees across divisions are encouraged—even expected—to collaborate

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