How collaboration technology can join up your multi-disciplinary teams
No employee is an island. In the modern workplace, everyone has to work together across disciplines and at every level. Technology has the power to bring your teams together from across the business, making communication and collaboration an easy part of everyday work.
Communication, collaboration and your dream team of tech-enabled employees
Teamwork is a vital part of any businesses, especially in today’s digitally disrupted world. No-one can afford to work in a silo; companies need to pull together employees from across their divisions into cohesive teams that can address complex challenges with a wide range of expertise.
From the top down
Deloitte’s annual Human Capital Trends report has identified teamwork as a top trend, and in 2018, that trend has reached the very top.
“In the last two years of our global research, the most important human capital trend identified by our survey respondents has been the need to break down functional hierarchies and build a more networked, team-based organization,” says Deloitte.
“This year, this trend has reached the C-suite. Senior leaders now realize that they must move beyond their functional roles and operate as a team.”
But how can employees from different parts of the business – sales, operations, IT etc, – and at different levels of seniority, work together effectively? The good news is that the very digital disruption that’s pushing the teamwork trend can also help facilitate it through technology collaboration.
Communication is key
If there’s one word that encompasses what makes a team work well together, it’s communication. Modern enterprise platforms like Workplace enable teams to stay in constant, effective communication with each other through a variety of channels.
- Instant messaging – the ability to quickly and informally ask questions of a team member or throw something out to everyone in a group chat is crucial to smooth collaboration. IM keeps team members up to date on each other’s progress, helps you to quickly find solutions to issues with your individual work. It can also help build stronger social and professional relationships
- Video conferencing – there are times when the team has to meet face-to-face, but they may not all be at the same site. Integrated group video calls can provide the vital connection, even when some of the team are working from home or in another office
- Information sharing – employees don’t just need to share documents and spreadsheets with each other. Often teams will want to share online information that they’ve sourced, keep up to date with the same relevant news feeds or follow the activities of their economic sector. For that, you need an enterprise network that will integrate with the business tools you already use
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One click to collaboration
We’re all used to downloading an app to deal with a problem. But when you’re working in a team, it’s important that you’re all using the same app. Whether you’re editing documents on Salesforce or sharing them with Box, you want all the members of the team to be able to access information when they need to. Having all your apps and services integrated into one platform, along with your communication channels, gives you one place to go to meet your team.
You can also create your own solutions. Like Virgin Atlantic did when they set up a bot to check empty standby seats for staff members. You can even subdivide and create groups that deal with specific problems or projects. And you can set up company-wide groups to share updates on the big wins for your company, or set up awards systems to recognize high-performing employees.
Effective communication and collaboration is the essential grease on the wheels of smooth-running teamwork. And modern business tools are increasingly offering the right solutions to help people from all areas of the business work together.
