Generic Guide To Working On Podio

SUSTAINING OUTCOMES

THE GROUP PARTNERS COLLABORATION PLATFORM

INTRODUCTION WE SHOULD DO THIS MORE OFTEN! Whenever we make the effort to get together as a team and give ourselves the space and time to have meaningful quality discussions about the things that matter to us we gain a great deal from the collective perspective.

It might be the attainment of new information, a better appreciation of someone else’s position and perspective or the increased quality of thinking by applying the intelligence and insight of the entire team to a particular challenge. Most times it will be all three.

Whatever the outcome the common theme is collaboration and co-creation. And yet we give this a low priority in the general scheme of things and allow our daily pressures and demands, or geographic separation to create excuses for not doing more of this.

Given the huge choice that is now open to us for collaborating online there really are no excuses for not finding a way to continue collaborating regardless of distance or location.

Social Media tools have evolved well beyond their original purposes of keeping in touch with our friends and now offer powerful options for sustained collaboration.

INTRODUCTION IN OUR WORLD THE deliverables After the event we will typically discuss the most appropriate deliverable. In some cases a visual record of everything that we developed is all that is needed, in others this is the start of the real work and then we will be considering how best to equip the team to continue the process. This can be with or without our direct support.

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We are often asked whether our approach can work with large groups – and how we achieve the same degree of ownership as we do with our more traditional workshop mode.

THE ANSWER, IS ABSOLUTELY

COLLABORATION TOOLS

yes!

This brochure explains the way we typically approach these assignments and what we believe matters most when thinking about this type of program.

FRAMEWORK TEMPLATES

VIZMO

Our APPROACH STIMULUS

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

The raw format delivered to Studio before transforming into a formal deliverable shown opposite.

LARGE SCALE PRESENTATIONS

There are some aspects of our approach that apply to any client engagement, no matter how many people are involved in the initial phase, and then some variables that we consider specifically – or pay particular attention to – when we know that we will be working with a large group.

STARTING WITH THE givens:

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We need a clear and compelling vision and direction of travel – to engage the workforce and achieve complete buy-in to our strategy. We have to be able to articulate that from many perspectives – it has to be relevant and meaningful.

We need a framework that everyone understands – that explains the rationale for a strategy or program and that can be sustained throughout as new context is developed.

We need a common language and clear definitions – so that it is possible for communication and engagement to evolve as needed through the duration of the program.

For these reasons we always start by developing a shared framework based on our 4D™ Approach and the philosophy of Structured Visual Thinking. The exact application will vary depending on the Exam Question set, but will involve us working through a series of structured conversations to establish the context and rationale for the program.

The content that is developed in these collaboration tools finds its way into formal documents and helps to shape the continued development of outcomes.

Group Partners approach is built on the principle of collaboration and co-creation and it is rare for a team not to comment on the benefits and value of this aspect at some point in our workshops.

The outcomes that are achieved in session always require more work and ideally as much of that should be done in the same collaborative way that delivered them.

Helping teams continue their great work is something that we wrestle with constantly and we have been developing this aspect of our Practice over the last few years. As a minimum we provide as much guidance as we can on the work that needs to follow our engagement – and teams may choose to set up their own collaboration mechanism. In some cases we will help them by providing an online platform adapted specifically for their program.

This guide introduces the platform that we have chosen for this purpose and explains how we have adapted this for your program.

THE PRINCIPLES INTRODUCING THE GROUP PARTNERS COLLABORATION PLATFORM

We use Podio as our online platform for sharing information, organising data and working remotely in collaboration.

It is a platform that encourages collaborative and co-creative work as well as being an effective means of providing access to information through a shared repository and against multiple perspectives.

We have chosen Podio above other options for the flexibility that it offers us through the concept of organising a Space into a number of discrete ‘Apps’. It works along the lines of an App Store and the Podio Community themselves all contribute new Apps that are made available to others trying to apply similar ideas to their organization.

Social tools for enterprise collaboration are still in early stages of evolution and most organizations are at an even earlier stage of maturity in their adoption. In Group Partners we see the challenges of working in complex, global organizations all the time and are convinced that these platforms hold the key to many of these challenges. Our Practice is committed to constant exploration of the value that can be leveraged from them – for ourselves and for our partners – and so we are now offering extended use to clients who are ready to go on this journey.

This guide will introduce you to the features of this particular platform and at the end you will see a breakdown of the Space that we have created specifically for you.

THE PRINCIPLES THE PLATFORM IS VERY EASY TO USE AND WORKS ON A NUMBER OF SIMPLE PRINCIPLES...

Spaces are dedicated members-only areas that people join by invitation.We have developed a series of typical uses for the platform and at the end of our workshop we create a client-specific Space, the membership of which is set up as directed by the sponsors of the project.

New members receive an invitation via email and from there simply follow the instructions provided – there is no software to download and no additional cost involved. Within a Space are a number of basic ‘Applications’ that allow us to personalize each Space according to need.

These Apps are explained in the following pages – some are more significant than others.

each one with some content at the start of the program. This will be updated at key stages – dependent on each App’s purpose.

Any Apps not displayed (for reasons of toolbar space) can be accessed via the end option – By clicking here you bring up the remaining Apps below the main toolbar.

All activity within a Space is reported through the Activity App (first on the left). Think of it as the dashboard – from there you can access specific actions and posts and be taken directly to the appropriate App. Activity provides an audit of all activity – the latest changes/updates are notified via a daily email.

You access an App by clicking on its icon. In the majority of cases we will have populated

We start your Collaboration Hub with this standard set of Apps we may add more later as the programme progresses

FEATURES THE MAIN INTERFACES | DESIGN AND STRUCTURE | VIEWING INFORMATION | CONTRIBUTING AND COLLABORATING

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THE MAIN INTERFACES The initial ‘dashboard’ for the platform is presented to you via the Activity Page – this will be where you get the latest updates and contributions streamed. You can navigate to any of them directly from the post – or via the Apps at the top of the screen.

Additionally the right hand panel will give you a mixture of pre-set and customized options for direct Navigation and Organization. You will also be able to get a quick sense of who is using the platform and how often. Member management also happens from here and if you have been give this level of access you will be able to invite new members yourselves. If we have added any customized ‘widgets’ they will also appear on the right hand side. These will typically be things like welcome messages, links and logos.

Once selected, each App then has its own right hand panel with some standard options. The exact set of features will depend on your permissions, but basically they cover standard tasks and activities that would be common to any App and represent things that you simply want to be able to do from any screen. We can also add widgets to these panels and these are often to help organize the data better through Filters and Themes.

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DESIGN AND STRUCTURE Apps are made up from a collection of Data Fields in various formats (Text, Number, Date, Links etc.). Data that is common to other Apps through specific relationships can be linked as part of the App configuration.

We will have set up your Space with the configuration that we think gives you the best overall ‘system’ but we always find that further refinement is valuable. Configuring the Space and making structural changes is akin to any simple systems design exercise and does require some appreciation of the platform and the use it will be put to – as well as understanding of the underlying data and its inter-relationship. It is not complex from a technical perspective however and we often establish additional Administrators from the client team who are able to make these type of changes.

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VIEWING INFORMATION Where we have used the capability for linking data there will be some powerful options for viewing data across Apps. Where data has been linked you will be able to click on the linked data and explore the content further without having to jump between Apps.

This is more significant than a navigation feature – it allows people to appreciate the inter-dependencies and connections and for us to explore data from multiple perpsectives.When you open up any of the Apps along the top (‘Activities’ is an example of an App) you will see the records that have been created. If you select any of them the first thing you will see is the data that has been populated for that record so far. It may not be showing you ALL of the possible information that you could enter for that record. To open up the entire record use the ‘Edit’ option. It’s the pencil next to the ‘X’ at the top right.

There will often be attached documents and visuals. These will be shown when you open the record and attachments will also be listed and accessible through the main ‘dashboard’ in the Activity page.* You can add any number of files to any record. All files and visuals can be downloaded and will appear in the Files section of the page. Clicking on the file title will open the file and allow you to use your ‘save as’ function. An alternative method of saving a visual is to click on the image itself, which will enlarge on the page and then give you the option to download the file in the top right hand corner of the image. We would advise downloading images if you wish to view them slightly larger than on screen.

The files we upload are suitable for printing at A4 or A3 size. You will be provided with a link to a private Dropbox folder for larger downloads.

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CONTRIBUTING AND COLLABORATING Obviously this is one of the primary purpose of the platform and there are several ways that teams can share data and activity progress. This will be App specific often and we will explain your specific configuration in the last section of this guide.

Basically contribution can be through: • Posting comments in the activity page • A dding comments to specific records within Apps • Attaching documents and images • Posting links • Editing content within a Data Field • Create a new record in an App The more specific the information the more relevant it is to use the associated App. It is also possible to create tasks that can be linked to an App or left open. These can also contain files and their own comment stream.

Please be aware that if you post directly into the Activity App (which includes adding files here too) that is the only place you will find your update. So – if you are responding to an action (for example) please ensure that you post updates and files in the appropriate App.

Tasks can be allocated from most Apps – you will see a list of options on the right of the page (see screen shot) – and regardless of where you create the task it will also show up in the consolidated list in the Task App. Existing entries can be opened up by clicking on the header/title. The original post will be displayed along with any subsequent comments.

If you have permission you will have the ability to edit the original post – otherwise you will only be able to add new comments. You can scroll through entries by using the ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ options. If you have permission to create entries you may do so by selecting the + Add Option.

Getting full use of these features will require you to make sure that you have set up your preferences appropriately. This can be done via the ‘My Settings’ tab, under ‘Account Settings’. Within this you can set up the Email and Notifications you would like to receive – alerting you to a number of different activities within the system including tasks, messages, reminders or a daily digest of all activity within the last 24 hours.

Podio also has on-screen notifications which are particularly useful when you are within the Space and we would recommend switching these on too.

YOUR SPACE WE HAVE CREATED THE FOLLOWING SET OF APPS IN ORDER TO ORGANIZE THE CONTENT WE HAVE SO FAR, WHICH RELATES TO THE STRUCTURES WE CREATED IN OUR LAST SESSION. These can be modified at any time – just contact our London office on +44 (0)20 79252111 or email jo.brittan@grouppartners.net. However, we suggest that you seek the agreement of the rest of the team before requesting any changes.

PROGRAMME PLANNER In here are the main phases of the programme that we have agreed with your sponsor. From here you can access the main activities that will be initiatied and keep track of the schedule as it gets confirmed. Our programmes are built around a mixture of ongoing activities that run for periods of time and specific Interventions - these are occasions where it is important for a number of us to get together, virtually or face to face, to share a discussion. The most significant of these is the facilitated workshop and there will be at least one of these scheduled for your programme.

ACTIVITIES These are the standard activites that we will be planning and managing in your programme.

Each activity is allocated to at least one contact in Group Partners in case you need to get in touch for more information. Please feel free to connect at any point of the programme. You will sometimes see that we have linked actions together where there are particularly important dependencies. In these cases you may have a contribution to make and our team will guide you through any actions that we pass to you through associated tasks.

INTERVENTIONS In here is our schedule of Interventions. This will grow as we agree actions and further meetings or calls. If you are invited you can signal your intention here as well if you like.

DISCUSSION These discussion topics are based on a growing insight directory that we continuously add to as our experiences grow across our engagements. They do not provide any client specific data and are primarily used as ways to make sure that we are gathering the most valuable data. When we set up this Space for you we will have selected the questions that felt to be most appropriate. As we learn more we will change and add new questions/

topics. You can add comments to these where it is helpful but your detailed contributions should be made via the Context Development Application - to the right of this one. You can associate your contributions to the topics in here when you create new records.

CONTEXT DELIVERY This is where we will share any information that is relevant to your exam question and the purpose of this programme. It is always hard for us to be very specfici about the type of information that is most useful as we are constantly discovering that the real insights turn up in the most unexpected places. We are very used to rapid assimilation of data so please don’t worry about overload or putting a lot of effort in sifting out the most useful content.

CONTENT LIBRARY This is where we will post the tangible outputs that get developed as a part of the process. Not just the formal deliverables, although they will be here as well. Where we have created large files (high resolution images for example) we will provide a link to our Dropbox folders - your information will be held in a private folder and you will be able to access it at any time through the engagement. We may also share additional content that we feel will be helpful to you.