Over the span of the last 3 years, the dynamics of the contemporary business world have constantly been evolving at an unprecedented pace. Practicing cultures that nobody even imagined, became the new normal of the enterprise world. You as an employer might also nod along with the fact that one of the biggest examples of the same is the introduction of virtual workplaces in the business world.
However, these big changes brought big challenges along and similar was the case with remote cultures. To elaborate, on one hand, remote culture gave the employees the freedom and flexibility they always wanted but on the other hand, it became difficult for employers to keep employees engaged and encourage them to effectively collaborate in the virtual workplaces.
Moreover, keeping in mind that collaboration will directly impact the growth and achievements of companies, it is essential for workplaces to practice healthy collaborations. This is applicable irrespective of the fact that whether companies are operating on-site or virtually. It is more essential in remote places because with employees in virtual environments, it becomes hard to collaborate and communicate effectively.
When your company will have effective collaborations, it will boost the productivity and efficiency of your employees which will enhance the overall growth and profitability of your organization. To substantiate, as per the report of McKinsey, effective collaborations increase productivity by 25%. Along with this, effective team collaborations will lead to project success in the most efficient manner and will also help in better project management.
This is the reason why employers are looking for some foolproof strategies that will assist them in enhancing collaboration in the remote workplace culture. So if you are also looking for some actionable strategies, then this blog is for you.
5 Ways to Boost Collaboration In Virtual Environments
1. Invest in the right tools
Technology is the only reason why remote work culture even came into existence. That is the reason why this is at the top of our strategies list for creating collaborative virtual workplaces.
However, technology is not the direct solution to foster collaboration in the workplace, but it is the right technology that can assist you in enhancing the collaboration in your virtual environment. According to an Alfresco survey, 83% of the executives depend on technology for effective collaboration.
Hence, you need simple yet effective collaboration tools that can be easily operated and comprehended by your employees. Otherwise, using complex collaboration tools will only confuse your employees and will frustrate them more. This can contribute to their disengagement and overall enhancement in the turnover rate of your organization.
Moreover, you should make sure that you have tools that ensure transparency among your team members. The major reason to practice transparency is that it will assist in enhancing the trust among your employees and with you as well. When your employees will trust each other and will also trust you, it will assist in enhancing the collaboration among them.
2. Create an open feedback culture
As said above, the business world is evolving and so are the demands of the employees. That being the case, getting and giving feedback is becoming one of the most important factors for today’s generation to stay engaged in an organization. In fact, as per statistics, 98% of the employees will fail to be engaged in an organization with little or no feedback.
Moreover, effective communication and feedback sharing play an important role in the performance management of an organization. Especially when it comes to remote working, as employees have no physical presence and direct communication with managers or employers, they even desire more feedback. A strong feedback mechanism assists them in keeping track of their performance.
Hence, it is essential to create a culture where you can give feedback and employees are able to take the feedback constructively. Along with this, you also create a culture of taking feedback from employees. This can assist in enhancing your efficiency of operating remotely and will also highlight the key areas for improvement.
Moreover, when you will be open to taking and giving feedback from employees, it will assist in creating positive relationships among teams. Positive relations among the team will create a positive work culture and will encourage employees to collaborate effectively.
3. Support their work-life balance
Whenever we talk about remote culture, it is often perceived that remote workers enjoy a healthy work-life balance.
However, due to a lack of trust and no physical presence in the office, some employers start micromanaging their remote workers. Due to micro-managing in remote culture, remote workers forget to draw the boundaries on when to plug out from work which disrupts their work-life balance irrespective of flexibility. The greater the assistance you offer them in terms of stress management the better the performance.
Disrupted work-life balance not only makes them lose their concentration but also impacts their productivity. On the contrary, when companies invest in work-life balance programs for employees, employees are more productive and the company experiences less turnover.
To substantiate, Companies that offer good work-life balance programs experience 25% fewer turnovers. Moreover, 85 % of the companies stated that the introduction of work-life balance programs made their organization more productive.
Hence, it is crucial for you to trust your employees and give them the work-life balance they deserve. Moreover, you also need to make sure that you do not micromanage your employees and give them the opportunity to prove themselves in the remote work culture as well.
Furthermore, when employers will successfully emerge as leaders who value their employees’ work-life balance and do not practice micromanagement, it will strengthen relationships.
Once the relationships between you and your employees get strengthened, it will encourage employees to put their all into enhancing the growth of the company. All this together will positively lead to better collaborations.
4. Create a stronger sense of belongingness
It is an undeniable fact that when things are remote, one of the major challenges employers had to face was employees lacking a sense of belongingness. This lack of sense of belongingness not only will disengage your employees but will also demotivate them. This can impact the overall growth and revenue of the company.
Hence, it is crucial for you to create a strong sense of belongingness even in your virtual workplaces. One foolproof way to create a better sense of belongingness is to practice inclusion in the virtual workplace. You can include your remote workers in the decision-making process to make them feel included and belonged to your organization.
Moreover, when you include decision-making, it will help you in considering every perspective which can lead to better decisions. Along with this, when employees feel valued and heard in the workplace, even by working remotely, it will boost their confidence and determination.
This boosted determination and confidence will encourage them to more actively participate in the tasks which can encourage better collaboration in the virtual workplace.
5. Organize team-building activities
It is no hidden fact that the engagement of employees is one of the major factors that decide their dedication to collaborating in a workplace. Keeping employees engaged in a virtual workplace is a challenge in itself.
In order to successfully keep your virtual workforce engaged, it is essential to organize some virtual team-building activities. Thi initiative can be executed with multiple ideas such as
- Organizing virtual happy hours.
- Informal meetings
- Host virtual movie nights
- Play digital card games
- Introduce D&I activities
These are just a few examples, you can organize virtual parties and execute your own innovative ideas. These efforts will keep your remote workforce engaged and happy in the workplace. Moreover, when you organize such activities, it will also assist in relieving your employees from workplace stress and will boost workplace motivation.
Along with this, when employees will be engaged, it will add to their job satisfaction which will make them happy in the workplace. The more employees are engaged and satisfied with their work, the better and more efficient their collaboration will be. Along with this, we all know that as per a Gallup report, engaged companies are 21% more profitable.
To encapsulate, it is an undeniable fact that collaboration is an important aspect of the engagement rate and growth of an organization. Especially with the changing dynamics and remote culture widely getting accepted all across the globe, it is essential to work together and create an effective collaborative culture.
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