A great idea may come from one mind. The development of the idea requires more than one individual who can collaborate and share. You can boost innovation and productivity if you have a collaborative workforce. Workplaces have people from diverse backgrounds. There can be language barriers and cultural differences. Therefore, there is a lot to learn in such workplaces. However, this happens only when people working with you have the right technology to collaborate.
Online collaboration tools and the right strategies can help you overcome the biggest obstacles to collaboration. Collaborative solutions don’t just bring information together but they also bring people together. Entering username password and hitting the login button do not turn on collaboration. You also need to motivate your team to be collaborative.
Obstacles to Collaboration
When you are looking for a collaboration solution, make sure that it is a cloud-based collaboration solutions that can overcome the following obstacles:
Human and Cultural Obstacles
When the focus of the leadership is on hierarchy and protocol, collaboration may not thrive in such an environment. This can lead to distrust and employees may find it difficult to share their ideas and concerns.
Dispersed Workforce
Businesses can get the best talent onboard by hiring people from remote locations. However, this can also be an obstacle due to communication gaps.
Organizational Silos
These obstacles can be because of hierarchy or departments and teams hoarding information. People working in your team have personal ambitions, goals and gains. This happens when you are unable to monitor conversations and collaboration.
Tech Obstacles
Collaboration is destined to fail if you don’t have one of the best online collaboration tools. Maybe, you are using a tool that is accessible only on computers and laptops.
To overcome these obstacles, you need to analyze your requirements and the features of different online collaboration tools. Once you have the right tool, implement the following five strategies to promote collaboration.
1 Create the Right Environment
Collaboration works for your organization when it is promoted at all levels. You should allow open and honest discussions. Make sure that managers and team leaders take the responsibility of providing a collaborative environment that builds trust and encourages honest communication that also includes criticism. This provides opportunities for improvement.
2 Leadership Commitment
Make sure that the leadership values collaboration. The leadership should create a document that tells how to use online collaboration tools for effective collaboration. As a leader, you must post on a regular basis and respond to posts shared by your team members. This shows your commitment.
3 Create Conversation Spaces
It is good to provide some private conversation spaces for workplace conversation. Employees can discuss their ideas in these spaces and bring these ideas into open conversations when they feel comfortable and confident.
4 Provide Guidelines
Make sure that your employees do not feel that they are not well-equipped. Choose an online collaboration tool that comes with features like instant messaging and file sharing. However, make sure that there is a user manual for each tool.
5 Align with Your Business Goals
As a leader, show how your online collaboration tools, strategies and policies are aligned with your business goals. This makes them understand that this is a part of their job.
