How you can foster project team communication and collaboration? Here are 5 tips for a motivating team culture.
In today’s digital workplace, it’s one thing to have the right tools at hand, but quite another to use them effectively. As with any group project, the biggest challenges come from poor communication, a lack of understanding of roles and responsibilities, and a lack of trust in your colleagues.
But don’t let that scare you away. We’ve put together a few tips for you to help you work well together in a project team.
The importance of team culture
Your people are critical to the success of your organization, so they should feel safe, respected and valued.
Team culture dictates how team members behave and work together. So it’s important to set a basic direction through appropriate values and attitudes. When you set clear expectations around responsibilities and communication, it also affects how everyone works toward a common goal.
Team culture is even more important in geographically dispersed remote teams, as it can be more difficult for individuals to stay connected to their tasks and the rest of the project team in these work environments. A strong team culture ensures that morale and productivity are maintained in digital work environments without sacrificing motivation and a sense of community.
According to a recent survey by Glassdoor, for 56 percent of respondents, company culture has a greater impact on job satisfaction than their own salary. So it pays to promote good teamwork.
Five tips for successful collaboration in a project team
Most people can work very well on their own, but collaboration can become a real challenge. Effective communication within the project team and understanding how one’s role fits into the big picture help here. It also matters how you work, whether you choose the right collaboration tools, and whether you use them effectively. In particular, the Corona pandemic and the move to a home office have shown that digital tools are absolutely essential for good project team collaboration.
So what can you do to encourage teamwork with your colleagues?
1. Make sure everyone is on the same page.
There is no such thing as too much communication, especially with remote teams. If you take a piece of information for granted, it can inadvertently delay your project. Always remember that your tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures don’t come across in chats or emails – so make sure you give clear instructions.
- Clearly divide responsibilities and tasks at the beginning of a project. The likelihood of things falling by the wayside decreases when everyone knows their objectives and how the project and project team depend on the completion of their tasks. This makes it easier to maintain mutual accountability.
- Communicate information such as organizational charts, internal wikis, and important delivery deadlines, and make sure everyone can access them easily.
- Agree on a rhythm for check-ins (every week? Every two weeks?) and determine which communication channels should be used for specific tasks. This could be weekly video calls for updates, a collaboration tool like Slack for sharing files, and project management software for components and other subtasks.
- Last but not least, be transparent: if you’re open with everything, it’s easier for everyone to feel like part of the project team. If something goes wrong, call attention to it immediately so that all team members can work to solve the problem.
2. Meeting or no meeting – that is the question here.
You’ve probably heard the meme “this meeting could have been an email”. Some meetings are unnecessary, especially if they’re just to prepare for another meeting. Other meetings have their place, so use them as much as you can.
There are things you can do to provide structure and direction and make everyone feel included – even if your project team is working from a home office.
- A daily check-in meeting gives everyone an opportunity to share their objectives for the day and any difficulties that need to be ironed out.
- Regular video calls reinforce mutual accountability among all stakeholders for the project team’s goals and objectives.
- For long-term projects (or permanent project teams), team lunches or events can prove useful. This creates points of contact and a stronger cohesion in the project team outside of work as well.
You can also reduce the number of meetings by using technology. Instead of holding another status meeting, you can simply post the current milestone in a collaboration software like Slack or ask for approval and feedback on shared documents.
3. Communication in the project team: Use channels cleverly.
Tools like Slack offer groups special places to collaborate, so-called channels. You can create thematic channels to keep your project team up to date with files, conversations, and decisions.
The beauty of channels is that you can have as many as you want. All information on a topic is centrally collected and made available, in contrast to the usual jumble of different email threads. Pro tip: Choose your channel names carefully so that all team members know immediately what you’re talking about and always choose the right channel.
Here is an example of how you can organize the channels in your company: For announcements that affect all employees, you can create a #general channel. Use another channel for risk projects and another for cross-functional project team communication. If sustainability plays a significant role in your company, you can also create a channel specifically for this purpose, in which the responsible persons exchange ideas and information. And why not create a channel for the party planning team to discuss (secret) details for farewell parties or other celebrations in peace.
Collaboration tools like Slack are great for location-independent work. You can’t easily drop by the neighbor’s office from your home office, but you can easily send a direct message and have a private conversation in real time.
By creating appropriate contextual channels, you can structure and organize different projects more easily. This promotes good teamwork.
4. Be a team player, but set some ground rules.
Despite all the flexibility, conflicts can arise in a project team. This is normal, because each team member brings different habits, attitudes, and motivations to the table. However, some conflicts can be avoided from the start:
- Be open and honest about your expectations and how you want the project team to communicate. Encourage your project team to have discussions based on mutual respect. Everyone should be free to express their opinion. If there is one person on the project team who constantly doubts decisions made, it affects both team morale and productivity. However, if you listen to that team member’s criticism, he or she may become more motivated to work.
- Praise colleagues when they do a good job. Giving a short praise is easy (and does not cost anything)!). The person in question will appreciate it, and the project team will recognize the contribution made. As an aside, praise also fosters a healthy competitive spirit in the project team.
When working remotely, physical boundaries are eliminated, which can initially complicate the flow of communication. Therefore, listen actively and be respectful towards others. This will make it easier for your colleagues to communicate and collaborate more effectively.
5. Give your team members the autonomy they need.
- Trust your colleagues to do a good job. With their skills and competences they have convinced your company. There is no reason to doubt. Once the entire project team is on the same page and the distribution of tasks has been settled, give your team members the freedom to do their tasks independently.
- Offer structured support. Even the best junior talent needs advice or a quick exchange now and then. Your project team should know who to contact with questions or suggestions. An autonomous structure allows team members working independently to be creative and innovative, which ultimately leads to better collaboration. Having the freedom to try new concepts or drive initiatives encourages the exchange of ideas and feedback within the project team. In addition, individuals with strong personal motivation create a project team that is stronger and more productive overall.
How you can foster collaboration within your team
Encourage your team members to be agile and use the tools at their disposal as effectively as possible. Articulate expectations and responsibilities at the outset and then trust that they will do their best. Lead by example, coaching your project team and developing their skills while keeping everyone focused on the task at hand. Be honest and transparent and remember that there is no such thing as too much communication.
Collaboration tools can help you put these concepts into practice. With a platform like Slack, project teams can organize in one central location and communicate with each other in themed channels. Shared workspaces give you more ways to stay connected and collaborate faster, more effectively and more efficiently – especially with remote teams.
You’re looking for more tips on how to foster good collaboration? Check out our collection of topics on collaborative working for best practices for successful teamwork, as well as recommendations for appropriate collaboration tools.