The Power of Networking with Remote Teams

One of the first things I was told when I began working at GE was the importance of networking. Being an IMLP at GE Corporate allows for not only networking with your own business and region, but gives you exposure to all the GE businesses across the globe. I’ve been lucky enough to work with GE Capital in Portugal, GE Healthcare in the US, and GE Transportation in Germany, which allows me to meet and liaise with a diverse group of people with a wealth of knowledge.

I still remember the first thing that went through my head when I walked into the GE Corporate building in London for the first time – ‘wow, this office is small!’ I had previously worked for GE Capital and had been used to sitting in an office with over 100 other IT professionals, so when I entered a room with 4 desks and 1 window it definitely felt strange! From the start of my career in GE, the value of getting to know your colleagues and the emphasis on networking had been drilled into me, and I wondered to myself how this could be possible in such a tiny office.

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The collaboration approach: a complete mindset turnover

I was recently having a post-meeting discussion with a Latin America CIO on how the collaboration approach is changing the way we interact personally and do business.

A long time ago, it was common not to have information about something. Only the rich could afford information. Sharing? I would guess the dictionaries from that time did not have this word (joking, obviously). Did anyone imagine that one day this would change?

Nowadays, we experience the opposite. We have so much information coming from everywhere that there is no way to catch up with everything. Twitter, for example, was made to be instant. Checking the tweets that you have received just at the end of the day is too late. By then, it’s old news.

But how can someone work, go to meetings, sleep, go out, study, and still be online? This is the challenge that “non-Digital natives” are facing right now. This does not seem "normal" for most older people (and to a certain level I include myself here). There is no going back. We are all connected.

And in my opinion, the biggest change happening is that the idea of collaboration is shifting from…

 “…If I share information on what I know/experience with others, I might get information when I need it.”

To…

“…I share because I know I will get help when I need it. I share to pay off the innumerous times that I found an answer on search websites. I share because I want everyone to benefit from the outcome of my struggle or my research, simply because I also got these benefits at some point and time”.

Have you ever thought that this can be seen as “online volunteering”? The information you share may help someone who is struggling with their phone, or trying to figure out the past participle for “run”, or wondering if a certain movie theater is good. The possibilities are really endless. There are no boundaries for collaboration.

Because we, as current and prospective IT professionals, tend to be more into what is going on online, we need to be key players in this process: not only showing examples of how sharing can help everyone to be more productive, but leading by example!

At GE, we have our own tool, GE Connect, ready to be filled up with content in a blog manner. GE Connect is an online portal similar to Facebook that allows for group interaction and collaboration. As IMLPs, the business looks to us to share the benefits of this tool and others.

Here in Brazil, the Welcome Week (onboarding) for new leadership programs (LPs) happens with all programs together, because there are not that many individuals in total. Thus, we end up being very close friends to the FMPs, CLPs and OMLPs also, which is amazing! We have used these connections to promote the use of GE Connect.

Check out some of the things the LPs have done to promote collaboration:

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Imagination Cubed

Imagination CubedOnline collaboration is fun, but it's sometimes hard to "talk through" an idea over the phone without a way to visually display it.

GE has created an online whiteboard for instantaneous screen-sharing without the need to register or create an account. Also, you don't have to wait for your friends to register either, as you can just email them to join your session.

The tool allows you to add text, change the background, add shapes, lines and stamps - it's wonderful in it's simplicity.

And when you're finished creating your online artwork (or a diagram for class), all is not lost- you can print, save, or send.

As lifehacker mentioned in their post, this site would be awesome if you have a tablet PC- as you have that whole pen functionality.