Four ways to improve team collaboration

As part of an organization, employees are part of a community that strives toward a common goal. That is what gives purpose to their work, which is why they must do everything under their power for them to achieve it. Different working environments and processes, however, may make that difficult.

For instance, not everybody works in the office as some are working from home. This creates tribes within an organization, which may prevent people from collaborating efficiently on a project.

Your responsibility as a leader is to get everybody working on the same page and toward the same goal. Below are four tools that can improve team collaboration to foster a more unified community in the workplace.

Use project management tools

Using a project management platform allows your organization to overcome the hurdles of different working arrangements.

Use the platform as your primary means of communication with your team members to delegate project tasks. This way, even those not working in the office can log in to the platform and check updates regarding their work for today.

Set deadlines for each task, so the members know when they need to complete it. You can also leave your feedback on accomplished tasks so your team can work on revisions.

Other features such as uploading files for sharing, organizing group chats and creating task templates to delegate responsibilities make collaboration much faster and more fun.

Host effective online meetings

Online meetings are one of the only times when all your team members get to see and communicate with each other. This is why you should make your meetings as meaningful for everyone as possible.

First, send a meeting invitation that everybody will read. In it, you should set the time frame and determine the meeting's agenda so your team can prepare in advance and come to the meeting with accurate expectations.

When the meeting begins, stick to the talking points, ensure everyone knows what actions to take next and end the meeting at the exact time promised in your meeting invite. Follow up with a recap of what is due by the next meeting or deadline.

PEX Network report: Mastering change in hybrid-work models

Settle on a work schedule

Flexible work schedules allow everyone to produce high-level output at their own pace. With each employees working different schedules, however, collaboration can suffer.

To improve their connection, consider establishing a set of fixed hours that all your team members to work. The schedule does not have to cover a full day or be implemented every single day. The point is to arrange time when they work simultaneously so they can get collaborative work done together.

A large firm might adopt a different approach, such as the 2-2-3 work schedule, operating with 12-hour shifts. Employees work two or three consecutive days with two or three days off in between across a period of 14 days. Those 12-hour shifts provide a lot of opportunity for collaboration.

Whatever schedule you implement, the point is to create time for people become effective as a unit.

An excellent way to bring your employees together is in-person team building events to help them build interpersonal connections and strengthen their rapport. There are so many options for such events that your team can choose what appeals most to them. When they choose the event together, they are more likely to participate in it more fully.

Help employees any way you can

As the team leader or manager, your goal is to empower your people to do the best they can.
That means showing them the ropes and providing first-class onboarding. It also means communicating guidelines and policies in a consistent and reliable way so that every employee has equal access to the company’s most important information.

During this time, use your leadership traits and your ability to communicate with and nurture your team to inspire them to treat their assigned tasks with the same care and responsibility that you show toward them.

To continue their progress, use effective team development strategies that recognize their ability to take charge and grow as leaders in their own areas of specialization or expertise.

Conclusion

Team collaboration does not happen in a vacuum. It needs leaders to promote and encourage working in unison by their example as well as through the tools and policies they provide to help workers collaborate successfully.

Following the tips above should establish you as a credible team leader, encouraging those who follow you to work as a unified team.

How do you ensure your teams work efficiently? Let us know by leaving a comment below.