Launching a corporate Web site is a
major event in an organization’s life cycle. It has the potential for
changing the way your business conducts its business. And because your Web
site has the potential to impact so much of your business, it may be wise
to think of your site creation on two levels or two tracks: as a project for marketing
and IT to develop a Web presence AND as an exercise in teambuilding.
Managers sometimes call in professionals to help with teambuilding when
they notice problems in their organizations they think may reflect a
breakdown in team cohesion – some problem that has affected performance
and that may threaten the bottom line. Professional organizational
development specialists may be called in to organize activities that are
designed to get teams on the right track. These organized activities range
from ropes courses and other outdoor challenges requiring individuals to
work together in order to succeed to classroom exercises in improving
communication and buying in to the vision of the group.
Teambuilding exercises usually share these objectives:
1. Help break down communication barriers between people and
departments
2. Develop more trust between individuals and groups
3. Clarify different roles and their interplay
4. Develop a sense of interdependence between individuals and groups
5. Build support for goals and objectives
6. Motivate members to think of their behavior as contributing to the
group’s success
Another way I like to think of teambuilding is in support of naturally
occurring events in the organization’s life cycle such as around product
launches, major growth spurts/ cutbacks or the implementation of new
technology. When, for instance, a company adopts new software that will
effect the way people are expected to do business, (e.g. groupware
technology or a major change in manufacturing software) these events
present great opportunities for teambuilding. Change, a double-edge sword,
embodies opportunity and risk. Management can act to weight the balance
toward opportunity. Proactive training and teambuilding before the change
reduces risk by laying the groundwork for a successful transition.
One of the key aspects of good Web planning is information planning
(sometimes called Information Architecture) -- deciding on the content and
structure of content in your site. Information planning is critical
because it
1. Insures that company and department goals will be embedded in the
site
2. Suggests an optimum navigation
structure
3. Clarifies the desired user experience of the site
4. Offers opportunities for short and
long-term goals to be built into the site.
5. Offers an opportunity for your organization to build or strengthen a
team prepared for Web activity and Web success.
The information planning process
needs to be coordinated by one person. That person must understand the
necessity of involving stakeholders up front before the designers get to
work. That person should also understand the importance of this
information-gathering process to the creation or
strengthening of the team(s) that will be affected by the site. You need
someone who is equipped to guide this process on both fronts, toward both
these goals – getting high quality information and preparing teams.