Expert insight: how to improve collaboration in the workplace

 Learning how to work together more efficiently is sure to be a key driver amongst all businesses, but this is particularly important for large enterprises who have disparate teams spread out across the world. As these teams need to be brought together through shared objectives and goals, the rapidly evolving landscape of technology is proving instrumental in helping companies navigate and implement new ways of working across geographies, so here we’ve compiled tips and tricks from four tech leaders in the space about how others can keep a culture of collaboration at the core of their business. 

Learning how to work together more efficiently is sure to be a key driver amongst all businesses, but this is particularly important for large enterprises who have disparate teams spread out across the world. As these teams need to be brought together through shared objectives and goals, the rapidly evolving landscape of technology is proving instrumental in helping companies navigate and implement new ways of working across geographies, so here we’ve compiled tips and tricks from four tech leaders in the space about how others can keep a culture of collaboration at the core of their business.  

Nadjya Ghausi, CMO of Prezi: 

“Collaboration in the workplace is critical in building a productive, competitive, organisation — after all, research shows that companies that promote it are five times more likely to be high performing.

“A perfect example of this is when teams need to create presentations that require many different people’s input - a tricky challenge when they are not in the same office or even country. What’s more is that each individual likely has a specific style of presenting and interacting with the audience. 

“In this example, the most effective way to help a whole team deliver a successful presentation is to use an online presentation tool that will allow them to easily collaborate, share ideas and co-edit their presentations. This way, you can also keep version control tight, ensuring that all team members are working on the most up-to-date content without duplicating work.

“For collaboration to work, it must be consistent and purposeful, with resources dedicated to it; the technologies that companies use are key to this. By focusing on a collaborative company culture with the right tools in place, any business can drive more consistent and impactful results.” 

Robbie O’Connor, Head of EMEA, Asana 

“There has been an explosion in the number of different software apps we use at work. These have been fantastic in allowing us to be more productive in our roles, but they can also lead to information silos and mean people today have to spend much more time in status meetings and sending or reading emails and messages, in order to coordinate work.

“Effective collaboration can only be achieved when there is a single place to centralise work, encourage information sharing and drive alignment with broader company goals. This will ensure every activity is driven by process and purpose, and that everyone has clarity on what work is being undertaken, who is responsible for that work and by when.”

Oliver Muhr, CEO, Starmind

“The business community today lives in Google Docs, Asana and Slack - collaboration has never been more powerful. However, these tools and others are built on documented knowledge, which makes up just 20% of workforce knowledge. The other 80% of knowledge remains undocumented; it resides in the minds of individual employees. The natural evolution in collaboration for businesses is in unlocking that hidden knowledge and revealing the expertise within an organisation at speed.  

For larger businesses in particular, which can have tens of thousands of employees, this is particularly crucial. With siloed management, globalised teams and high attrition rates, unless individuals proactively share knowledge, it's practically impossible to quickly find the right expert to answer a complex question. Artificial intelligence is overcoming this. By understanding who knows what, new solutions will identify and connect experts to questions asked in real-time, drastically cutting the time it takes for global business to collaborate, and empowering individuals to both share and grow their knowledge.”

Andrew Wray, UK Country Manager, Fiverr

“The digital revolution is changing how the world works together, and has made global collaboration easier than ever - especially when using freelancer platforms. You can now find an expert in almost anything, and engage them quickly and easily across borders without ever needing to meet them face-to-face. 

“What this means on a micro level is that it’s now far easier for individual businesses to outsource things they don’t know how to do - and to experiment in new areas with relatively low investment. So, businesses can focus on finding the best creatives - rather than simply looking for ones working nearby.”