Effective collaboration is essential to organizational success. It is a fact that collaborative workplaces see increased levels of trust, a more engaged workforce, and improved performance. And even though businesses have long removed ‘cubicle seating’ to increase workspace collaboration, some offices do find it challenging to maintain team collaboration and bridge the communication gap within the workspace.
Of course, collaboration between departments is more than simply “cooperating” with other teams. It involves a shared vision, mutual respect, an in-depth understanding of each other’s role and sometimes even online tools. These things come into play when you’re trying to boost up the collaboration between teams. Apart from this, there are a few steps you can take to improve communication and collaboration within the workspace. Check out these 4 ways below:
1. Encourage Open Communication
Good team collaboration relies on open and truthful communication. The more people feel they can contribute, the more ideas can be shared, the more productive the team will become.
However, for the more introverted team members, this part of the process might not come naturally.
If you create a psychologically-safe working environment in which team members feel safe from judgment, they are more likely to speak openly and contribute their ideas freely. The safer the environment for communication, the more collaborative that space will become.
2. Implement A Task Management System
The key to successful team collaboration is implementing an effective system that manages the tasks and projects that your team is to accomplish. This generally includes a place to store data such as a calendar, documents, and chat functionality. Businesses usually rely on G-Suite for business, Slack and Trello for internal collaboration and task management within the team. These software and productivity tools show huge improvements in communication and productivity and are especially useful for remote workers. By getting everyone working within the same framework, you can witness significant improvements in tracking your employees’ daily tasks, keeping the managers up to date, and clients happy.
3. Celebrate Team Wins
Celebrating wins and acknowledging each other’s roles in the success of a milestone or project helps cultivate trust and respect among team members from different departments. Not just completion of a big project but celebrating small milestones also go a long way in building a healthy work environment and a happy team.
Small wins help sustain momentum and motivation while breaking down barriers and hierarchy. Celebrations don’t have to be elaborate. A company-sponsored happy hour or catered lunch and activities that give team members the opportunity to intermingle work well for everyone.
4. Build an Inclusive Remote Work Infrastructure
Many companies nowadays hire remote workers and provide work-from-home opportunities for their employees. It is a great initiative but companies that do allow remote work or work from home policies should also be equipped with the tools and equipment required to communicate remotely. Tools like video conferencing, chat programs, screen sharing & remote desktop access systems, as well as presentation systems, are required to bring employees together virtually.
These tools ensure your team is connected at any time of the day, no matter where they are working out of. This is an important aspect of team collaboration. Therefore, companies need to provide their remote workers with proper collaboration tools and conduct weekly video calls so that they feel connected to the company and their team.
To strengthen your team’s collaboration and communication, you need to invest in long term strategies. But all these strategies will only work when your team has one thing in common- trust. Everything boils down to the fact that your team believes in each other and has faith. After all, collaboration tools and virtual assistants can only help if your employees are comfortable communicating with each other. Building a sense of trust should always be your company’s first motive.
If you’re also looking for a team collaboration and presentation system for your company that packs all screen mirroring, video conferencing and collaboration tools in one device, you can check out Zoapi.
Zoapi is a screen mirroring and collaboration device that manages your meeting rooms/ conferences and helps you efficiently work through your meetings. Zoapi’s wireless screen sharing option for meeting rooms, conferences and smart classrooms helps you connect and collaborate with your teammates in just 30 seconds.
Not just limited to screen mirroring, Zoapi also helps you connect with your clients and employees from across the globe with multiple video calling app support and up to 16 screen shares at a time.
Check out the all-in-one Zoapi Hub in action! Schedule a demo – https://zoapi.com/
