Most companies recognize the value of working together as a team and even support initiatives to cultivate a sense of teamwork. But it’s rare to find a business that will put its money where its mouth is and fully invest in the framework and architecture necessary to truly unite all its workers together as one. Lip service to cooperation and collaboration is nice, but action is needed to see the awesome results of everyone working in sync.
In order to achieve this lofty vision of real community within a business or organization, you must begin by examining every facet of your company. Do your policies, procedures, and workflows encourage a team mentality, or do they primarily push everyone to continue looking out for number one? Have you begun to invest in or upgrade to collaboration software and cooperation-focused systems that remove common roadblocks to a department’s synergy?
While there are many ares in which companies can start to improve their approach to cooperation, the project management realm is one that can often be neglected. Does your project management software provide the powerful tools you need to sync up the efforts of multiple teams and departments across multiple regions, or is it simply a fancy spreadsheet tool people utilize individually?
If you’re still using Microsoft Project or another locally based program, you probably do not have the platform you need to supercharge the efforts of your best people across all levels of your organization.
In contrast to the older single-user software paradigm, modern project management tools offer far more than just number crunching. Programs from various vendors such as Basecamp or Workzone offer nimble and accessible online document management software so your people can share, edit, and tap into files simultaneously.
Removing the cumbersome nature of emailing files back and forth or running important documents around the office on a thumb drive is a freeing experience for companies who have moved into the 21st century of project management systems.
Gone are the days of hassling with your MS Project software on a local server or attempting to configure and sync multiple installs across a ridiculous number of computer setups at different homes and offices.
Instead, cloud-based project management software hooks everyone up to the most up-to-date version of the program at all times, no matter what mobile device, tablet, laptop, or computer each person happens to be using at the time.
Seamless, up-to-the-minute updates and information give your team the freedom to actually work together as a team and eliminate the need for the blame game or finger-pointing when someone drops the ball. Instead, you instantly can see what went wrong, pick the ball back up and keep moving.
Remember, don’t just talk the “teamwork” talk–any old business firm can do that. Instead, get honest and real with yourself and your advisers as you investigate how you can best grow your great people into the unstoppable force you know they can be.
