Let's say you work for a big corporation, and you've got to solve an application problem in Portland, Maine. You're pretty sure that someone else in the corporation has probably solved this problem, but it might be in Portland, Oregon or maybe one of the other Portlands scattered about the globe. It might not even be in a Portland at all.
So how do you find things out? One way developed by Xerox of France, among others, is astoundingly simple and very powerful. It's using e-mail to ask for help.
This same "Listservä technology that runs the mailing lists you use for customers and that bring you news of various topics can also be used for widely scattered sales and support reps to compare notes on a problem.
In France, Xerox got started doing that by putting together an ad hoc system to mimic what went on in the coffee shop right after service reps headed out for the day. It's been used by mega-corporations, and small multi-company alliances, and project teams alike to get quick answers from peers on matters that matter. Here's how to do it.
Set up a mailing list system that's open to any authorized participant. In the case of the Xerox - France people, it was all of their service reps. When a rep has a problem (for Xerox it might be on diagnosing a machine or installing a particular part), he or she can send off a question to the list as a whole. Answers and suggestions can come back publicly or privately.
Public answers are the most common. You see, that's also a way for folks to get recognition for the kinds of stuff they know and become known as "expertsä in a circle of peers. That's powerful stuff.
Public answers also mean that different people can have different inputs on the problem. Very often a discussion results, and a solution is generated that's different from any one of the initial suggestions.
It's exactly like what used to happen around the coffee shop table -- talking shop and learning from each other.
Making It Work
The best systems I've seen are the simple ones. Use a basic Listserv technology or, for small lists, just a habit of copying everyone on the list on a question.
I've seen a couple of companies try to develop systems for capturing all of this knowledge in one place, and those systems just seem to break down after awhile. I like the simple Listserv the best.
In addition to simplicity, make the system self-policing. Reps and salespeople can pretty well handle themselves on making those kinds of decisions. Theyâll rapidly elevate true experts to celebrity status and quickly learn to ignore the blow-hards
Created/Revised/Reviewed: 30 July 2002
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