3 Ways to Improve Collaboration in Your Business

Apr 12, 2018 | blog

Eighty-six percent of managers rate teamwork as an important soft skill in the workplace. Still, 39 percent of employees say people in their organization don’t collaborate enough.

What gives?

Collaboration provides your company with multiple benefits. As a team, you can align your goals and work together toward a common business vision.

Here are three ways to improve collaboration in your workplace.

1. Improve the Design of Your Office for Better Collaboration

Collaborative office spaces promote cooperation and teamwork. All the big brands use design features to encourage interactions between employees. Take Google’s campus in Mountain View, California, for example, which is designed to facilitate communication.

Large open-plan offices and collaborative tools create a sense of community, and staff can exchange ideas and discuss projects.

Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, features the biggest open office in the world. At Samsung’s base in South Korea, employees communicate in large outdoor spaces.

While you (probably) won’t have a design budget the size of Google’s, you can make a few quick adjustments to your workplace that foster better collaboration. Common areas, open-plan spaces and large workspaces encourage employee interactions and are much more effective than cramped, confined offices.

2. Use Collaboration Software

Collaboration software instantly improves communication. These programs let your staff access information in one place and share valuable data with other employees from their desk or in meetings.

You can create workflows, sync data from multiple programs, and share documents and resources with a click of a button or swipe of a finger. In short, you can streamline your business collaboration projects and simplify IT management without breaking a sweat.

Research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) shows that social technologies like collaboration software improves the productivity of high-skill knowledge workers, such as managers and professionals, by as much as 25 percent.

“Companies will go on developing ways to reach consumers through social technologies and gathering insights for product development, marketing, and customer service,” MGI says.

Not all collaborative tools are created equal, though. Cisco Spark is advanced, easy-to-use software that lets users create ideas and discuss projects on a digital whiteboard. Think of it as the ultimate collaboration device that incorporates team messaging, video calling and interactive drawing.

3. Organize Social Events

Social events are vital to productivity and workplace happiness, according to experts. You can use these events as team building exercises where employees meet new people and learn skills.

This can have a positive impact on workplace collaboration, too. Social events build trust and reduce conflict, resulting in better communication in the office. Whether it’s a trip to the movie theater or a day out in the park, social events will provide your employees with plenty of perks.

Alternatively, organize a company retreat that incorporates work and fun. It might sound expensive, but it could provide you with a worthwhile, long-term investment.

“Your company retreat could be the only time all year that your employees will all be together in person,” says software company founder Brandon Bruce, writing for Forbes magazine. “There will be a lot of handshakes, hugs and laughs. This unstructured social time is important so that your employees can get to know each other as people outside of work.”

Recent Posts

Cloud Use Cases for Small and Growing Businesses

Cloud Use Cases for Small and Growing Businesses

As you may have heard, the cloud is a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet. But for businesses the world over, the cloud represents the next step in technological evolution. The cloud unlocks speed, flexibility, scale, and cost savings that businesses of...

2023 Cybersecurity Trends for Small Business

2023 Cybersecurity Trends for Small Business

The threat of cybercrime continues to grow each year, and small businesses are particularly vulnerable. The latest cybersecurity trends indicate that organizations of all sizes must remain vigilant in order to protect their valuable data.  In this article, we'll cover...

Security in a Co-Managed IT Environment

Security in a Co-Managed IT Environment

Security in a co-managed IT environment looks a little different than in a traditional environment. Don’t be alarmed. When leveraging a partner to co-manage your environment, you’ll actually have better, more robust security in most cases than if you were to manage...

Five Signs you Need Better IT Support

Five Signs you Need Better IT Support

IT systems can make or break any business. They provide an avenue for communication and collaboration, help with organizational efficiency, and drive improved customer service. Without proper IT support, businesses are often left in despair and experience hindering...

Co-Managed IT Services for Financial Services

Co-Managed IT Services for Financial Services

Financial services companies are faced with the challenge of keeping up with technology because they cannot sacrifice data security or compliance. As a result, more organizations are turning to co-managed IT services as an option that provides a balance between cost...

Co-Managed IT Services for Oil and Gas

Co-Managed IT Services for Oil and Gas

The Oil and Gas industry is an ever-evolving sector that operates in a highly competitive global market. Companies must stay ahead of the competition to remain profitable, which means keeping up with the latest technologies and trends. One way to do this is with...