How to encourage better online collaboration

Wayne Pope at Glasscubes describes the three elements that are needed to enable effective online communication: strategy, culture and technology

 

The move to remote and hybrid working brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic means that online team collaboration is now more important than ever. And given that this is likely to be the new way of work moving forward, employers need to be able to encourage and oversee greater teamwork among their staff both working remotely and in the office.

 

Thanks to advances in technology, online collaboration can be achieved more easily and, if used effectively, it can also improve employee engagement, productivity, efficiency and, most importantly, company results. That is reflected in the fact that 39% of business leaders agree that introducing digital collaboration platforms is the key factor in making remote working sustainable, according to a Deloitte study.

 

Effective online collaboration requires three key elements: having a clearly defined communications strategy, fostering the right company culture and maximising the use of technology. When all three are effectively executed at the same time, workers’ output will rise exponentially.

 

Clear communications strategy

An effective communications strategy starts with having the right channels in place. As a basic, that includes phone calls and messaging, and emails, but for face-to-face interaction, it should extend to video conferencing too.

 

Managers should also schedule regular team meetings to discuss projects, agree and make decisions, and keep updated on progress, as well as check in with employees individually to make sure they are well and working effectively. Even if people are working in different time zones, this ensures that they are all working towards the same goals.

 

If implemented effectively, the results can be transformative. Workers who feel more included in workplace communication are almost five times more likely to report increased productivity than those that aren’t, a McKinsey study has found.

 

Strong company culture

A strong company culture comes from the top, with research by Deloitte finding that 94% of executives say having a distinct corporate identity is fundamental to a firm’s success. That means that, regardless of whether staff are working on-site or remotely, employers should be constantly and consistently getting across the same set of shared values, targets, attitudes and practices to them.

 

The cornerstone to establishing a positive company culture is getting employee buy-in, from which everything else flows, starting with recruitment and retention. Once everyone is invested in the business, that creates greater job satisfaction, which in turn, leads to better collaboration, performance, morale, loyalty and well-being.

 

That’s borne out in the figures, with 67% of respondents to a PwC survey citing a company’s culture as more important than its strategy or operations. What’s more, 72% of senior leaders said that it also enables successful change initiatives to happen.

 

Maximising available technology

Chief among them is online workspaces. These are virtual environments where teams can collaborate, communicate and manage all their projects in the same place.

 

Their uptake has merely been accelerated by the pandemic, with 79% of workers now using digital collaboration tools, up a staggering 44% from when the outbreak began, a Gartner study has found. Looking ahead, 48% of chief information officers predict that more than half their budget will be spent to enable these technology investments to reach their full potential, according to Cisco.

 

With so many different platforms to choose from, it’s vital to look at the exact needs of workers and the business in order to equip them with the right tools for the job. Choosing the right tools for your organisation is critical, especially with many options, such as Microsoft Teams, can make it difficult to collaborate outside of your organisation.

 

It’s not necessary to invest in expensive tools or make a significant switch to the existing setup. Instead, the software should seamlessly integrate into the existing processes and enable more efficient ways of working together. Additionally, having access to UK-based solutions or companies for support can be more responsive than relying on US mega-corporations. Above all, the tools must be intuitive, easy to use, and provide onboarding support.

 

While tools like Slack are primarily designed for real-time online chat, online workspaces can offer much more than just communication. These spaces can be used for document storage and management, file approval flows, task and project management, information gathering and sharing, noticeboards, and client portals.

 

The cloud is another integral element that enables online collaboration. The global network of servers that hosts multiple databases and software, allows teams to access and work on the same files and applications, wherever they are in the world.

 

Once the system of tools has been successfully implemented, it’s also paramount to monitor their performance and seek feedback on how they are working.

 

Online collaboration challenges

Despite the clear benefits that online collaboration brings, there are also challenges in its implementation. These include the upfront investment cost and teething problems with new technology, as well as employee resistance to change.

 

While companies clearly need to stay within budget, they must also take a long-term view that they are investing in their future. Also, by giving staff greater autonomy and getting them involved in the decision-making process of how they are going to work together online, they can get much better buy-in to the new company culture.  

 

The bottom line is that with almost every company moving to this new way of working, they need to have the right systems and practices in place to ensure effective online team collaboration. Without it, businesses will get left behind in this increasingly competitive market for the best talent.

 

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Wayne Pope is Founder and CTO of award-winning Glasscubes, which specialises in enabling companies to collaborate with people inside or outside their organisation

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com