A Unified Voice

What with all the talk of the elections this week I think I have been driven to reflecting on the challenges of keeping teams of people 'on message.' In modern politics, with the heavy use of policy advisors and related helpers, politicians have become adept at doing this. A lot of work is put into developing this message and subsequently schooling everyone in its details. However in doing this report, I have found that what at first seemed like a simple process, is in fact quite an organisational feat. And I can't really say that I display as much skill in doing this, as do the politicians from whom I have been hearing quite a lot this past week.

In beginning my section of the report I did not think how my own particular style would look in relation to the other team member's work. However after I produced my initial draft, I could see immediately that it would take a lot more work to get it right. Doing this is quite a skill, but it is one which is aided by the collaborative process. By discussing details, and reworking paragraphs the individual report does in the end begin to come together. Through this process of fine tuning my report began to take on a style that would be appropriate to the overall report.

As for the collaborative tools we are using, I found that they faciliated this process quite nicely. Whether this is using them to send and receive drafts, or to comment on other work, the process can be done efficiently using these tools. Furthermore, an unexpected advantage in this honing process is that it allows for periods of reflection. Using collaborative tools, it means that team members are not together in the same location. This has the result that reworks do not have to be produced instantly. This I think adds to the quality of what is ultimately produced and cuts down on the amount of communication that is ultimately required.

In any case, as for the politicians, I have found in producing this report, that speaking with a unified voice is not quite as simple as it initially had seemed.

Brian.