Fostering and Improving Collaboration Among Your Employees

Healthy and productive collaboration within your workforce is vital to the well-being of your business. When your employees have the tools and encouragement they need to collaborate with each other, you open up new, endless possibilities for your company to thrive as one. Consider these ideas for helping employees collaborate with each other, presented to you below by PDH Now.

Use Tech to Connect

There are many platforms specifically designed for communication. In a messaging system like Slack, for example, you can set up dedicated channels for collaboration based on the project, the topic, and priorities. Channels can be either public or private, and you can control who has access to view or contribute to them. By having spaces designated for collaboration and brainstorming between your employees, you foster a sense of connection and teamwork, even if workers aren't physically near each other.

Documentation Station

Smooth collaboration on documents is essential for your business. The last thing you want is to miss an important deadline or opportunity because of documentation issues. PDFs files that are easy to create and share. However, editing them can be a trickier task. To ensure your team can markup PDF files without any hassle, convert them to Word documents using an online tool that can convert PDF to Word files. Word documents are easier to edit and collaborate on. After editing, you can convert it back to a PDF.

Put Time on Your Side

Collaboration doesn't always happen spontaneously, especially if you're working in a primarily remote environment. Generally speaking, if you want something to happen, you need to plan it. Schedule regular time for your employees to collaborate on projects and ideas. Set an agenda for the meeting so attendees can come prepared, and then allow the discussion to take place as organically and naturally as possible. Make sure you either record the meeting (with permission) or have a dedicated note-taker who will send out the meeting minutes to the group. With this approach, you can get the right stakeholders in the room and ensure that collaboration is facilitated and documented in a proper manner.

Shout-Out the Collab Stars

Employees love to be recognized and appreciated for their work. If you have workers going above and beyond to facilitate and encourage collaboration, get into the habit of publicly acknowledging their efforts. Think of ways to incorporate this into your existing workflow, such as in the meeting notes or at the start of meetings. An example could be as simple as saying or writing, "Thanks to Jen and Shawn for their great idea on our budget proposal last week!" By creating an environment in which employees feel appreciated, you increase the chances of better collaboration in the future.

Collaboration is Key

Most great ideas and solutions come from the same source: collaboration between empowered, motivated employees. By having systems and tools in place to help your team collaborate effectively, you'll contribute to making your company a great place to work.