When an organization develops the habit of not letting anything slip through the cracks of usual practices, namely siloed and dispersed communication and collaboration, its productivity accelerates and team cohesion, involvement, and well-being become a powerful driver.
A good collaboration solution synthesizes:
- Transparency as a managerial value
- Employee involvement
- Acceleration of operations and projects
- Knowledge preservation
- Improvement of customer satisfaction
1. Transparency creates a positive work environment
When everyone knows what they need to do, that's good. But when everyone knows what the company needs to do, that's even better. When all employees know what the company should be aiming for, they work towards a clear objective.
On this topic: Why transparency?
Most project management tools do not link lower-level tasks – your mundane daily tasks – and the high level – how much your efforts contribute to the company's success.
Transparency allows everyone to focus on the big picture. The meaning of one's work – knowing why things are done – is the primary driver of motivation. Conversely, a lack of meaning is the primary cause of employee disengagement.
When you hide information from your team, you limit their intelligence to your own, paralyzing the smart people you've hired. – Avishay Abrahami, the CEO of Wix
When companies hide information (intentionally or not) from their employees, they create silos between people «in the know» and others «in the dark.» This becomes a breeding ground for organizational politics, which slows down your organization.
Most project management tools and traditional communication methods (emails, meetings, Excel, and face-to-face conversations) are inherently opaque. You need a system that allows everyone to see what everyone is working on, in real-time. Individuals then see how their tasks fit into the whole. They feel that their work is important and makes a difference.
2. Involvement comes from ownership and accountability
Increasingly, people no longer want to receive orders and no longer want to give them. Traditional project management methods and ways of collaborating rely on the decision-making power of a few, disempowering everyone else.
Good collaboration management software promotes employee involvement. It allows for quickly defining and clarifying tasks, commitments, and follow-up by the right people.
People are inherently responsible. They want to be involved because it gives meaning to what they do. The problem is that, generally, it is the managerial habits of organizations that curb and then annihilate this desire.
Recognition often stops at the manager or the project progress report. Transparency brings it down to the team and individual contributor level. When everyone's work is visible to all, when anyone can see your achievements, when you feel that the results are yours, that you are responsible for them, then you get involved.
3. Accelerate projects through enjoyment and simplicity
Why do most teams still collaborate with loads of emails, scattered Excel sheets, outdated reverse planning, and “ad hoc” organization? Because they are wary of IT. Experience has shown them that project management software = gas plant (overly complex system) = waste of time and frustration.
Good task management software should be simple and pleasant – if not fun – to use. Too often, users feel like they are working for the tools they use, and not the other way around. You need an intuitive, non-imposing, and fast tool. You should be able to start working on it without training.
Historical software publishers still relegate ergonomics to a secondary element. Ergonomics – the pleasure it should generate for the user – must be your number 1 priority.
Digital and cloud solutions today bring the software we have all dreamed of having. A solution like Monday, Asana or Wrike are collaboration applications that people love, that work for them, and that lighten their burden rather than increasing it.
To read on the subject: How to choose a project management solution
For many managers and IT departments, software that vibrates with simplicity and evokes pleasure in users is suspect and probably inefficient. Yet, I can guarantee you that for 3 years, my greatest pleasure at the office has been opening Monday every morning.
Thanks to Monday, we have the guarantee that all commitments are clarified and followed up by the right people. Monday works for us, offering us relaxation and control. We know that, from the overview to the minute details, everything is under control. Planning and collaboration has never been so fast.
A good software should not only manage tasks. It must be a platform – a one-stop shop – that will simplify and accelerate your processes:
Employees work “in context”. They no longer have to tediously search for information in different places and use disparate collaboration channels. Tasks, folders and files, templates, workflows, deadlines, discussions and comments, etc. all in one place.
Deadlines are more easily tracked and met. Employees can more simply clarify all details, from the most general to the most insignificant, to stay focused on the essentials.
4. Safeguard knowledge by strengthening backup and versatility
By holding a large part of the information in their heads, team leaders and employees represent risky bottlenecks. When they are unavailable, teams can be slowed down and projects simply stopped.
Good collaboration software must make information storage and open collaboration simple and obvious. Transparency and good working practices strengthen the backup and versatility of individuals. This reduces bottlenecks and silos that impact the safeguarding of operations.
5. More satisfied customers through involvement and transparency
Collaboration should no longer be restricted to the team or internally. Operating in an open collaboration model with your service providers and partners, but also and especially with customers – or principals, like your hierarchy – will significantly improve their satisfaction. And your results.
Thanks to your project management software, you must be able to involve your clients and partners by giving them access to the elements that concern them. By adding some good practices from Agile approaches, you will ensure that your clients and partners actively participate, provide feedback, respect their commitments and deadlines. You then deliver products and services to them more quickly, more complete, much closer to their expectations.
At Axxun, we have observed an improvement in project quality and better profitability since we adopted Monday and an adapted Scrum framework.
At our company, Monday has allowed us to apply the principle of transparency from the first meeting with the client and then throughout all stages of the project. The board is shared with the client from the offer. Trust is established faster: price calculation is transparent, we no longer negotiate services “face to face” but “side by side”, like a team. Then clients and partners can follow all tasks in real time, be assigned them and participate actively. Our invoices are not disputed, because the client knows what we have done and in how much time; they have defined and accepted each deadline.
The benefits – for Axxun as well as for our clients – are such that another approach would seem aberrant to us. At least, when you seek to deliver quality and maintain a lasting client relationship.
Conclusion
Organizations and teams need reliable tools to focus energy in the short and medium term. Tools that allow employees to master their tasks calmly and relaxed. It is possible to do more with less and better thanks to a system that allows collecting all information, clarifying commitments, and taking action more simply and quickly. And to reduce fatigue and overload.
To read on the subject: Hyperconnected, the brain in danger
Next-generation work management tools such as Monday, Asana, Wrike, Airtable, etc. are “game changers”.
