One of the most exciting workplace innovations to have been introduced to the market in recent years is collaboration software. They help improve a team’s communication and, well, collaboration with other teams and even external contributors but, alas, as with everything else, it’s not always smooth-sailing.
It’s quite distressing to be faced with the fact that your newly acquired collaboration software is not doing what it’s supposed to for your company. Here, we look at the 7 reasons why you’re choosing the wrong collaboration software.
What is collaboration software?
Collaboration software allows teams to work together as well as with other external partners like suppliers, clients and, even customers, to:
• Collaborate
• Communicate
• Solve problems
• Share files, documents, and information
• Work on projects and tasks
• Make joint decisions
• Achieve goals
It’s a great way to make sure you’re firing on all cylinders, so to speak, to complete tasks and projects as efficiently and proficiently as possible.
Why do companies use online collaborative productivity software?
Collaborative productivity software solutions are services that allow file-sharing, messaging, and collaboration between and among teams as well as other stakeholders like external suppliers, customers, and clients.
The appeal lies in the first word: online. Nowadays, even the most important work-related things can be accessed with one click on a computer or one tap on a mobile device. Online collaborative productivity software allows everyone involved to get involved whether they’re working remotely or on location. This makes things a lot easier for everyone concerned especially when a decision needs to be made swiftly or a deadline is looming close.
However, as with everything else in life, things do not run smoothly all the time. A lot of factors contribute to collaboration software failing.
1. Employees are not engaged
Oftentimes, managers and business owners forget about the user experience especially when it comes to acquiring new software and, even hardware. This often leads to a disconnect between what the team really needs and what gets obtained for their use.
Collaboration software needs to work for everyone concerned to ensure that it will accomplish what it was purchased for. To do this successfully, it might help to have a meeting with the team to brainstorm about their needs, what’s not working with the present system, and what’s required of the new one being considered. If employees are not involved in the buying decision, it may lead to frustrations, demotivation, and unproductivity, all of which are not needed and helpful especially when you have a deadline after a deadline.
2. Relying on one software for all your needs
Like it or not, some team collaboration software has certain strong points so they’re not meant to be your be-all and end-all. Your new team collaboration software may promise a host of features and functionalities but even the most robust software cannot provide you with all the solutions that you need especially with how quickly new innovations are popping up everywhere all the time.
To avoid being blindsided and disappointed, don’t expect the buck to stop with your new collaboration application. Make room in your work orders for integrations with external and online applications. The good thing going for you is that a lot of these can be used at no additional cost so you won’t have to shell out more unless you absolutely have to.
3. Not enough trust
There are a few better feelings in the world than when you’re entrusted with a big project or a task or if you’re tasked to head your own team. Wow! How exciting is it, being at the helm of your own little workgroup! That happiness bubble can only burst when you have your boss constantly looking over your shoulder or breathing down your neck. Well-meaning, though, it may be, the attention can get overwhelming. Let’s face it, no one likes being micromanaged.
Although it might be a challenge especially if it is something you may not be used to, you will need to trust your team a bit more as a manager or business owner. If you’ve assigned a project manager or team leader, show them you trust them by letting them run the show. Give them full access to the tools and applications they should need to complete the job and let them know that your proverbial door is always open whenever they need you for anything. Instead of constantly checking on them, conduct weekly meetings instead and make good use of every report available through your team collaboration software.
4. Milestones left uncelebrated
It kind of defeats the purpose of exceeding expectations when winning moments are often, if not always, overlooked. Yes, teamwork makes the dream work but it’s important that a team is made up of individuals who have their high moments. As a leader, you need to be on top of these victories, no matter how small they are, to make sure they’re all celebrated properly.
Ask anyone in your rank-and-file and you’ll find out that it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. A simple kudo in the email is more than enough. Make good use of the best collaboration software’s reports to make sure that every win is reveled in. To truly drive the message of teamwork, productivity, and optimum performance home, you need to make it a practice to salute your team for even the smallest accomplishments.
5. Roles and responsibilities are not defined
Talk about walking blind. It will be near impossible to communicate, collaborate and practically get any work done if you don’t know what function you’re supposed to be performing and who’s supposed to be leading. Part of the work for collaboration software is outlining roles and giving everyone in the team their responsibilities but the leader or manager is actually the one who assigns these.
Tap into your team’s capabilities and temperaments to make the best judgment when handing out roles and responsibilities. These you will have to feed into your team collaboration software for everyone to see. You’ll find that everyone falls into the routine of working together and accomplishing tasks as soon as they know their place in the order of things.
6. Not looking ahead
Most business leaders make their decisions based on a specific, defined need and that’s not a bad thing. It’s not always a good thing, either. A good amount of foresight is needed in making decisions that will help your team succeed down the line. Being able to see the bigger picture, think outside of the box, so to speak, is very important.
Make a case for your point of argument by creating a plan or a study for your business. What challenges do your teams run into? Where are you running into problems? What sort of problems do you always run into? Whether it’s buying a new collaboration application, moving offices, or assigning a project to someone in the team, huddle up with your workgroup and create a comprehensive plan.
7. Not measuring your success
It’s the same thing as not having defined roles or an established leader. How do you know if something’s working? There has to be a system to measure success so you and your team will know if something is working and worth repeating or not working and worth chucking.
Your collaboration software should be able to help you measure your team’s KPIs, establish baselines, define outliers and show you conclusive data to effectively demonstrate what your team is doing right. Whether it’s productivity, efficiency, customer satisfaction, quality of performance, or something else altogether, you need to be able to generate such reports so you can see how well your teams are doing.
The right collaboration software for you
It’s a potentially costly mistake, choosing the wrong collaboration software so let Bitrix24 save you from the guesswork. The right collaboration software with over 300 app integrations available. Start for free today and get your team on the path to success. Want to see more of how your team can succeed with Bitrix24? Schedule a demo and let us show you!
