As workplace models evolve, so do the terms and practices that companies use. In recent years, hybrid work – where employees work from home and from the offices – has become widespread. Mobile devices are more integrated and the need for long meetings is being closely assessed.
Organizations are starting to understand that a successful team doesn’t just come from sharing a physical space or from individuals working efficiently in isolation. To protect and retain the best talent, agile practices are becoming routinely implemented in every area.
With the growing demand for worker flexibility, transparency, and engagement, managing collaborative work is now an essential agile practice for organizations to be successful. If you are looking for ways to improve your team’s productivity and efficiency, keep reading!
What is collaborative work management?
Collaborative Work Management (CWM) is the practice of managing a team in a way that promotes collaboration, communication, and teamwork. As an approach, it emphasizes the importance of working together to reach a common goal, even when team members are in separate locations and using different devices, instead of working in silos or using individualistic approaches.
Collaborative work managements involves creating an environment where the entire team can share their ideas, resources, and feedback, while working together to achieve good collective performance within a company. Nevertheless, as a digital era concept, paper and pens are not how it has manifested. CWM emerged through expertise in software platforms.
Characteristics of work management
Effective management of collaborative work demands a clear understanding of team dynamics, individual strengths and weaknesses, and the ability to create a culture of trust and respect. This approach also requires using tools and technologies that let everyone communicate and collaborate effectively, regardless of their location or time zone. Below is a list of some of the main characteristics of collaborative work management:
1. Open and transparent communication:
Communication is key to successful collaborative work management. The team should regularly communicate to share ideas, learn the latest on how activities are progressing, and resolve problems jointly. Communication should be open and transparent, so that everyone has access to the information necessary to perform their tasks efficiently.
2. Collaboration and teamwork:
Collaboration, as the name itself already says, is at the heart of collaborative work management. Everyone on the team should work together on common projects, sharing responsibilities and tasks. This calls for a team approach and a strong sense of commitment to objectives.
3. Sharing resources:
Team members should be encouraged to share relevant resources, such as information, files, and documents. Sharing resources helps to ensure that everyone has access to the data and tools necessary to perform their tasks efficiently.
4. Collaborative technology:
Technology is a very important part of CWM. There are a variety of tools and platforms that can be used to make it easier to communicate, collaborate, and share resources. This includes instant messaging apps, video-conferencing platforms, project management systems, and other technologies that hep to connect people, data, and processes.
5. Flexibility and adaptability:
Collaborative work management requires flexibility and adaptability. Everyone on the team should be willing to adapt to new situations and quickly respond to changes to project demands. This means having an open and collaborative approach, where team members can speak up and influence decisions.
Benefits of collaborative team management
With so many constructive characteristics available, you can already imagine the countless benefits that CWM can have. First, it encourages teamwork and communication, which are crucial to the success of any organization. When people work together, they can share ideas, debate, and solve problems more efficiently. This, in turn, boosts productivity and leads to better results.
Second, this management promotes responsibility and transparency. When employees work collaboratively, they are more likely to undertake their tasks and responsibilities. This means that there is a higher probability that they will finish their work on time and at a high standard.
Third, collaborative work management can improve employee involvement and satisfaction with work. The results of a Stanford study show that when a person feels they are part of a team working on a task, it makes them more motivated to confront challenges.
So when employees feel they are part of a shared effort, they are more likely to feel valued and engaged with their work. This can, in turn, lead to higher rates of satisfaction with work and to less employee turnover.
And the last and possibly one of the best benefits is that CWM boosts team productivity. With more efficient management, teams can work more productively, optimizing time and meeting the deadlines set.
Collaborative Work Management solution
Gartner, an international leader in information technology research and consulting, defines a Collaborative Work Management solution as one that provides the team with hubs* geared toward tasks that enable business users to plan, execute, and manage their work. A CWM solution should help users to plan and execute their activities and use information technology to sync progress across all devices. The software should combine task management, project management, work flows, and automation with communications, reports, analyses, and employee dashboards. CWM tools are therefore the natural progression in Work Management solutions and virtual meetings.
CWM implementations have not stopped growing at companies in recent years. According to Gartner, the level of interest in collaborative work management has mostly grown in parallel with the considerable and consistent rise in hybrid work.
Collaborative work management software was designed to help teams to work together more efficiently. It provides a centralized platform where team members can collaborate on tasks, share files, and communicate with each other. This type of software can be particularly useful for remote teams that need to work together in different locations.
One of the main benefits of using collaborative work management software is that it helps to simplify communication. Instead of depending on e-mail or other methods of communication, the entire team can use the tool to talk communicate in real time. This can help to lessen misunderstandings and guarantee that everyone is on the same page.
The solution makes it easy to know who is responsible for each task. This can help to ensure that everyone takes responsibility for their work and that deadlines are met.
Finally, the use of CWM software helps to guarantee better productivity. By providing a centralized platform for all tasks and projects, team members can easily see what needs to be done and when. This can result in joint work to reach the same goals, eliminating duplicate efforts.
Have you ever thought about getting a collaborative solution to improve management of your team?
Now that you know how a Collaborative Work Management solution can help with agility, growth, and daily routines at your company, find out about the SoftExpert Excellence Suite, a complete solution to improve your team’s productivity and make them more agile and effective.
With the solution, collaboration can take place anywhere in the organization, structuring the work flow and promoting internal communications. With a wide-ranging and easy-to-use dashboard, the platform helps companies to efficiently allocate resources, while also motivating everyoe at the company to reach higher goals within a given time.
With its flexible and scalable architecture, the SoftExpert Excellence Suite is ready to help improve productivity at your business. It makes it possible to join people, data, and processes to make your business more resilient, agile, and competitive.
