Are you a federal manager looking to engage your employees using online tools? The National Academy of Public Administration's Collaboration Project just released a new guide that compares 10 online tools for idea generation and provides guidance on what to consider when choosing a tool.
"The plethora of platforms and variety of functionalities available can make a manager's choice of technology challenging," the guide says.
The authors encourage managers to consider eight factors when selecting a collaboration tool:
Duration of engagement: how long will the idea generation project run?
Community: do you need to make some users stand out from the rest?
Responsiveness: do you need to respond to ideas and comments immediately or provide updates on the status of particular ideas?
Output: what kinds of data and analytics do you need the technology to provide?
Structure of dialogue: do you need the ideas organized?
Cost and resources: what budget and staff resources do you need for the project?
Support: what level of technical support will you need?
Deployment: how quickly do you need to launch the project?
Most important, managers should make sure they align the technology to their core purpose for engagement, allowing the tools to fit their needs, not vice versa, the guide says.
Which of NAPA's 10 tools could be useful for engaging employees and generating new ideas at your agency?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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