We have heard the quote “Two heads are better than one” a lot of times. It’s clichéd but it works. And for businesses, working with a team is even better. Sometimes, when you have a lot of brains working, it can be counterproductive. There are a lot of ideas on the table that some good ones are being ignored in favor of ideas from stronger personalities. This is where online collaboration tool comes in. It allows people to work in groups, yet giving them the freedom to be themselves. Here are some of the reasons why team online collaboration works the best.
Boosts Performance
There is a theory, called social facilitation, where it is said that the mere presence of others, whether implied or real, can help improve the performance of a person. This works the same way in groups. When you work with others, especially towards a common goal, it helps boost your performance. But working with other people does not automatically improve the performance of the group; you still have to consciously work for it. Here are some tips to help the group collaborate better.
- Be innovative and support it. In a group of people, it can’t be helped that some people will have new ideas. It would not be good for anyone, if you will automatically shut those ideas down. Listen to the innovative concepts and maybe implement some of them. Encourage your team members to share their thoughts.
- Become a leader instead of a manager. Set goals and roles for your team members. And give them room to grow instead of telling them what to do and micromanaging everything. Be supportive and listen to them. This will make for a better collaboration.
- Be committed. You have a shared goal. Be committed to achieving it. Motivate yourself and your team members towards that objective. Motivation will work wonders for your team and thus your collaboration.
- Use the top online collaboration tools. You have a great team of workers; you also have to have top notch tools for your collaboration to work well. Get the best software for your group, so everything will work wonderfully.
Familiarity Enhances Strength
There is a saying that says “Familiarity breeds contempt.” This can be true for long term relationships, marriages and even a long term job. Because most people will associate familiarity with boredom or knowing everything already and so eventually it becomes contempt. But if you look closely, it is not really the familiarity that breeds the contempt. It’s the negative energy, the disrespect between the people that feeds on the hate. It’s the same mundane things, over and over that creates the boredom.
If worked properly, familiarity can enhance the strength of a group. It can create comfort and camaraderie between members. It would be nice to work with same people again and again. Ones you know the strengths and weaknesses of. You can work around the weaknesses and draw on their strengths. You will know which member of your group can create something because he’s good at that. Or which member should skip this task, because they’re likely to mess it up. Team collaboration promotes familiarity and enhances strength of the team.
Working Remotely Is Better Than Face to Face
One advantage to online collaboration software is that you don’t have to work in the office. You can work with other people at the comfort of your own home. There was a survey done by Cisco where they asked teleworkers about their productivity in a remote or office based environment. The results found out that workers tend to have higher productivity when they were working remotely.
The development of the collaboration software has enabled business owners to hire employees that can work outside of the office. And the results are even better. Even though members of a team do not see each other every day, it doesn’t mean that their work is compromised. The software allows workers to communicate effectively with each other through its platform. You can ask questions and clarify orders just as easily as if you were in the office rather than your home. The performance of the team is even better as the survey says.
Extroverts and Introverts Are Balanced
Having a group of both extroverts and introverts will make for a balanced team. It is known that extroverts and introverts have different strengths, so having the two in a team will balance things out. Having to work at home will be best for the introverts. They work best in their comfort zones. They gain their strength from the quiet and solitude but still have to work to pay the rent and the bills. They would still maybe, have to go in to the office for certain times a week. But majority of their time can be spent on their own. For the extroverts, they can work remotely but still be involved with the people of his or her group and would still thrive. If they really like to socialize, they can still work in the office or go to a coffee shop filled with people and work there. Online collaboration tool has really made it that people can get the best of both worlds.
Analytic Members
For team collaboration to work, one or more analytic members have to be present. One member who can focus solely on the finer things of the project. Most people look at the big picture and how to get it done, but a team needs someone to work on the small details. This is the key to a great collaboration. Top online collaboration tools allow the team of the members to be play their parts well. It allows flexibility for the employees to do what they are tasked to do. It might seem hard for the analytic members to work on the details through an online platform, but collaboration tools have made that possible. For a team to be great, it needs both idea, analytic and action people.
Men and Women in Team
Another way to make team collaboration better is to have both genders on the group. Men and women have different ideas and what a man cannot think of, a woman might or vice versa. A group with all the genders will fill whatever is missing if there are only men or only women in a group. Some European researchers found out that teams with equal numbers of men and women in their group performed better in business venture games. According to them, it was because there was mutual monitoring. Meaning everyone was checking up on the other members of the team to make sure everyone is doing their job. This is probably not the only reason it is good to have both sexes in the team, but it is one of them.
Cliques In Teams
When employees work in a group environment there is a risk of creating subgroups. Those that fit together will bind together and leave odd people out. This is a danger for a team because when one feels excluded they wouldn’t be able to work well in that group. This might decrease the productivity of the group. This is one problem that the best collaboration tools can help solve. Since the members of the team are not in one place, there is no risk of possibly creating cliques. Actually, it is still possible but the risk is lessened. When working remotely, you wouldn’t see if other members of the team are hanging out and leaving you behind so there would be no awkward moments between the team.
Social Sensitivity
Social sensitivity is the ability to recognize social cues in conversations. This is very important for a team to succeed. You would think that if you work remotely and talk to other members of your team through the internet only, it would make for a poor social sensitivity. But the best collaboration software will allow its members to maintain their social sensitivity even over the phone or web camera. Read some reviews of collaboration software to know more about other users’ opinion about this topic. The software might work for some, and it might not for others. Don’t compromise social sensitivity as it is important for the success of a team. Read the reviews and find the right software for your company.
Better Communication
Teams perform better when they have effective communication. Communication is key to a team’s success. And some say, a team better communicates outside of a formal meeting. Using online tools will make meetings less formal, because you wouldn’t have to dress up and act formal. Every meeting can just be casual and this makes for better team collaboration. There are many collaboration tools that allows for a successful meeting even from remote areas. If you want to know about the best collaboration software, you should read some reviews of online collaboration tools.
Working for a team can be tiring. What with working with all these different people, with different ideas about how to get things done. But being part of a team also makes you feel like you are part of something bigger and it can be motivating. Working as part of a team increases productivity of companies, so if you think this might be for you, then try it.
Want to know how to better collaborate with your team? Find the best collaboration software for your business needs.
John Tovar
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