Whether you need your teams to work together on one specific project, or if cross-team collaboration is part of your ongoing growth strategy, your business needs to come up with concrete steps and solutions to get every employee on the same page and working toward the same goals. So how do you create an office environment that fosters teamwork and collaboration? We’ve come up with four ideas to help you get started:
Create Opportunities for Cross-Team Collaboration
In order to avoid what’s called “organizational silos” that can harm productivity and stunt innovation within your company, make sure to promote a collaborative mindset between your team members by sharing files, work calendars, and data online, by discussing ideas and providing feedback via regular meetings, and by offering team-building activities and cross-team exercises. This is especially important if you have a number of employees who work remotely and who may feel isolated from the rest of the team. Thankfully, online digital platforms let organizations set up virtual meetings and events so that everyone near and far can join in and participate. Letting teams exchange ideas and share challenges on virtual platforms will promote collaboration and teamwork as they all strive to achieve the same goal.
Use Collaborative Tools, Technologies, and Platforms
Thanks to today’s technology, everyone within your organization can have access to a shared workspace platform. Document synchronization software, digital whiteboards, video conferencing and other collaborative software lets everyone have access to the same information and data updated in real-time. These tools are invaluable for team projects: they save both time and money as well as lower the potential for data entry error. And before your company launches its next project, going through process mapping will allow you to strategize with your team members by breaking down your project into stages and by defining clear goals and deadlines for everyone involved. Creating a process map will help you draw up and assess a plan of action that will improve your team’s productivity and efficiency.
Create a Culture of Open Communication and Sharing
Cultivating good workplace communication and transparency starts at the top. When your business implements new collaborative tools and starts using new online platforms, make sure company owners and managers are using those same tools in their day-to-day work-related activities. This will allow you to improve communication with your team members as you’ll be able to not only give clearer directions on a particular aspect of the project but also to get feedback from employees using the same systems and platforms. Making your employees aware of company goals, of their role within the company, and empowering them to speak up to share their ideas with their colleagues and supervisors will give them greater trust in your leadership.
Reward Team Collaboration
When your teams reach a milestone in the project, take time to acknowledge their success. Thank the team members through an email, in the company newsletter, or during a meeting. With employees eager to learn and share their knowledge cross-team, offer to pay for classes and certifications that will add to their skillset and make them even more valuable as team members. If your budget allows, celebrate a job well done by organizing a fun outing or event outside of the office, which will strengthen bonds between coworkers. And if problems arise or a project fails, avoid pointing fingers at one team member in particular. Instead of assigning blame and making employees fearful to speak up or bring up new ideas, take this failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Thanks to video conferencing and online collaborative platforms, you and your team members can share data in real-time, and your company can achieve greater financial success by streamlining your processes. By encouraging collaboration among colleagues, you will boost employee morale, which will, in turn, help you grow your business into a thriving success.
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