Rewind a few years. What image springs to mind when you think about collaboration in the workplace? Was it a group of team members grabbing their notepads, laptops and coffees to gather in a meeting room to – well – collaborate, together in person?
With many organisations adopting flexible working practices over the standard 9-5 Monday-Friday in the office approach, the term collaboration has taken on a whole new meaning. It’s not just about getting together in person anymore, it’s about working together effectively, whether everyone is together in person or not.
It is therefore imperative that you make collaboration between the people in your organisation as seamless as possible.
Things you can do now to help your team Collaborate
Collaboration tips and tricks:
Below are some of the things you can do to help your team collaborate:
Microsoft Teams for hybrid collaboration
Microsoft Teams is a great platform to host online or hybrid meetings, whereby some of the attendees may be together in person whilst the rest join virtually.
Teams has many great functions that can help flexible teams or entire organisations in a variety of ways. These include file sharing and storage, version control with the ability for several people to work on the same document together in real time, and communication via the chat, audio, and video call functions, allowing for ideas and changes to be discussed as you go.
Break out areas for in-office collaboration
Although flexible working is the new norm, some people do still value being in the office. As part of our Future Workplace Research Sharp found that the ability to meet with colleagues physically has become more important since the pandemic to 56% of the 6,000 people surveyed.
That being said, collaboration in the office doesn’t need to be rigid - it isn’t always about booking a meeting room for a formal conventional meeting. It could simply mean gathering some members of the team for a quick brainstorm or briefing session. So, whether that means having informal seating areas, or areas with built-in audio-visual equipment, consider what would work for your organisation or your office and work from there. Having more relaxed environments for teams to meet can be the perfect tool for getting those creative juices flowing!
Project Management Tools
There are many collaboration tools available for teams to centrally manage the projects they are working on together or need visibility of. The benefits of using a project management platform such as Asana or Monday include:
• Improved planning and scheduling
• Ability to tag other team members so they don’t miss a thing
• Push notifications with updates
• Easier file and access sharing
• App integration
• Easy task delegation
• Enhanced productivity
• Easy accessibility for all as it’s hosted online
To name a few!
To find out which one would work best for you, list your requirements and determine what you’ll need to get out of a project management tool. A little bit of research goes a long way - you’ll find the perfect platform in no time!
To end with a cliché that will never die – teamwork makes the dream work. An organisation can only be successful if its people are productive and strive towards the same goal. And whether that means having the right tools or providing the right spaces, this can only be achieved through effective collaboration.
Get in touch to find out how Sharp can help you achieve our collaboration goals.
