Contrary to popular belief, what you learned in kindergarten doesn’t necessarily always translate to your adult life. Consider the childhood lesson: “share with others.” I am not saying that as a rule we don’t share with others. However, when it comes to knowledge and IP within the cyber walls of the enterprise, it seems that sharing has taken a back seat.

By nature, sharing is a selfless act. In business, we tend to be ruled by The WIFM - “What’s in it for me.” There is nothing wrong with this. But, if you want to build a culture of social collaboration, you must first know the rules of the game. The WIFM being rule número uno.

People might not be as likely to share knowledge if they don’t initially know what the WIFM is for them personally. That is the first lesson in building a social, agile enterprise.

Start with this question: What type of knowledge and collaboration do you want to see shared within your business?

Then ask yourself: Who cares about this too?

Building WIFMs have to be specific to the role and function. If you want to see sales teams collaborate across large geographic regions, know that sharing knowledge is a give/get equation.

The second rule is about access. Once you’ve nail the WIFMs for your different personas, then you have to make it super easy for them to access it. More often than not, people who design social sharing tools and portals forget that attention spans are short in the era of Twitter, Youtube, and Pinterest. If the user can’t find it easily, they may throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead of focusing on features, focus on what’s simple. Later, you can add features iteratively based on real user feedback. You’ll get them asking for more.

Check out how we’ve been building a culture of collaboration at Bluewolf. Learn more about our #GoingSocial service offering.

Related blog posts: Key Insights Into Enterprise Social Collaboration, Social Collaboration: It's About People Dummy, Not Technology