Collaborating with a team can either be enlightening or disastrous depending on the tools you use, and when you’re running a business, it’s crucial to ensure that you have all the right resources to make any team effort a success. From making communication easier, to utilizing technology for quick, secure document sharing, there are several things you can do to help things along.
It’s also important to make sure your team members know they can come to you with their ideas. Encouraging an open, honest dialogue will benefit everyone in the long run and will create a positive work culture for all involved. Need to open communication and network with other insurance-based business owners? Follow up-to-date information about trade shows and conferences at www.pia.org. Here are a few simple ways you can encourage successful collaborations with your team.
Make your needs clear
When it comes to communicating with your staff members, it’s crucial to make your needs clear from the beginning. It’s also important to understand that some employees learn differently than others; for some, visual cues are helpful, while others prefer to learn a skill by performing a task. One simple, effective way to teach your staff about different processes is to use a colorful, detailed infographic. The best part? You can find an infographic template that allows you to input your own text, images, and other info in a premade format that can be shared any way you want. This will help to prevent miscommunication and it can be updated down the road if your needs change.
Keep everyone on the same page
When you’ve established how important communication is for your team, you can introduce a few tools to help keep everyone on the same page as they tackle different projects. This is especially important if you have employees who work remotely, or a mixture of team members who work at home and at the office. Whether they need to share files and see updates in real time or chat about your employees’ next moves, there are several tools that will help them stay on track and prevent miscommunications. Once you’ve found a few apps that work for your needs, make sure everyone is educated on how to use them properly.
Offer a little help
It’s important for business owners to understand their employees’ needs, too. If your team member is struggling to collaborate on a certain project, take a moment to try and understand his or her point of view and take steps to remain positive. Let the employee know that it’s possible to get past this roadblock once communication opens up; this type of guidance is a great example of leadership, and it can help foster a positive culture in your workplace.
Once you know what the problem is, look for ways to help. If the workload is unbalanced—or if your team is overwhelmed with too many projects at once—offer some assistance in the form of a freelancer who can take on some of those tasks. Look on a freelance job board to find a virtual assistant for your business; this will allow you to read reviews of the assistant’s work and figure out whether he or she will be a good fit for your budget/timeline.
Reward great work
Once your team members have the hang of communicating and collaborating effectively, find a way to reward them and keep the vibe positive. You might offer a treat day once a particular project is completed, or boost their incentive to stay on track by putting up a cash bonus or other prize for the person who meets pre-determined goals. Keeping your team members happy not only benefits them, but it fosters a sense of community and teamwork that you’ll reap the rewards from as well.
Helping your employees work together more effectively is advantageous for your business, but it also teaches individuals how to find success as part of a team, which will stay with them for a lifetime.
Use the right tools and create a plan for your own communication efforts in order to maximize your strategy.
Emma Grace Brown
Emma Grace Brown lives her life by her rules; and it works! When she's not snuggling puppies, Emma promotes female empowerment through her website. Her mission is to help those who live with self-doubt to realize they don't have to mold themselves to conventionality.
