10 Collaboration Tips for Increasing Team

Productivity

by Don Dalrymple

10 Collaboration Tips for Increasing Team Productivity

Teams are different today than in the old economy. We worked a lot more linearly before. Today, work gets done digitally and from disparate locations. In fact, location and timing are less relevant with powerful cloud computing systems and mobile devices allowing for virtual collaboration.

Our AscendWorks team has spent thousands of hours helping organizations get faster and work with ease both internally and with their customers and partners. We want to share some best practices and tips that will help you inside the Google Apps platform to increase collaboration and productivity with your team.

Drive A ZeroInbox CultureIt is inevitable that everyone gets massive amounts of daily emails, voicemails, action requests and inputs. Producing and disseminating information is easy. Create a culture of a zeroinbox culture. This is done through training, reinforcement and valuing productivity.

Direct all inputs to your Google Mail. Your emails should be deleted or archived in Google Apps as fast as possible. If they need action, they need to be filtered as such. This will ready your team continually towards action. Learn more at www.zeroinbox.com.

Think And Sync MobileAccess to your information can be done from any device. This includes mobile devices. We are all connected and we consume information in real-time. Ensure your team has an Android, iPhone or BlackBerry smartphone. They need to be connected to their Google Apps account for real-time email, contacts, calendaring and document sharing.

#1 #2

Connect With ChatGoogle Talk is integrated in the Google Mail interface. Each person should have a list of people that they connect with already set up. Be sure that the Labs feature for setting up your chat on the right side is enabled. This will keep a longer list in plain view.

Also, your mobile device should be set up with chat. This gives an instant connection to your team wherever they are at. They are able to get a question answered quickly and collaboration happens instantly.

#3Build A Knowledge BaseUsing your Google Sites, build a real-time knowledge base. The powerful search application within a Google Site enables any past resolutions to be accessed quickly and easily. Share this out and ensure your team has set their personal notifications so they can review and contribute regularly.

#4

Schedule EverythingGoogle Calendar is extremely powerful. It is a hub. Teach your team to time block and schedule everything. Everyone should be able to see each otherʼs availability and schedule accordingly. When meetings need to happen, fill in the details and invite. You can track confirmations quickly and easily.

#5Use Inbound FiltersSet up filters in your Google Mail. These are logic rules which you can use to redirect mail to others or create shortcuts for processing inbound mail automatically rather than manually.

If you have a person who you regularly hand off to or needs to be copied on, create filters that manage this logic.

#6

Plan Together In Real-TimeGoogle Spreadsheets can be used for creating a roadmap, a financial plan, or an event among many other choices. Share out a new spreadsheet and start collaborating in real-time. Google Docs have mash-ups which manage the changes and creates revisions which are part of a history.

Instead of having a back and forth on a plan from multiple stakeholders, have a real-time meeting and build the plan together. Buy in and ownership will increase.

#7Sync Contacts For CentralizationYour Contacts will accumulate the more you correspond. Set rules to sync your personal address with a global address book in an integrated CRM system. This allows for your team to have access to customer information readily in one central location.

#8

Implement Mobile Google Docs SharingThere are third-party software that can be added to your mobile smartphones and iPads. Use these to access, share and distribute information within your organizationʼs Google Docs account. This ensures your team has continual access and can operate from a centralized and current library.

#9Model Real-Time SpeedThe world is real-time. There is work that requires sequential tasking. There are many actions that move faster with real-time collaboration. Initiate everything from appointments, chatting, document collaboration and knowledge sharing in real-time. As you initiate, you are modeling what your team can also do.

This develops a culture of speed. We start to notice and inherit the best practices around us.

#10

We Need Others ...To get to the goal. This is done daily with an interchange of information which moves to a point of clarity for action. Your Google Apps systems will not do this in and of themselves. Success comes from strategies and implementations which help your team adopt collaborative behaviors.

Learn more at www.googleappssuccess.com where we share ongoing strategies for success.