Team Collaboration Toolkit
Facilitating the quality of work and accomplishing tasks that require team collaboration can be tricky when your team isn’t in a centralized location. To communicate effectively you need the right team collaboration tools in place, otherwise, chaos will likely erupt.
Nowadays, there are so many team collaboration tools to choose from that it can be difficult to settle on the right one. As a small or mid-sized company, monetary constraints might keep you from spending additional capital on mainstream collaboration tools. When budget doesn’t allow for multiple tools it’s essential to pick the right ones.
Team collaboration, communication, and productivity are the perfect blend, so if you are new to working remotely unexpected challenges might arise. Like a well-oiled machine, they need to work in tandem so that your team can work together towards the same goal.
To jumpstart your team on the right note, consider testing out these tools.
Zoom
You may have heard of Zoom recently, and it’s not surprising. You might even say it’s the Tickle Me Elmo of our time. Everyone from SaaS startups to yoga teachers are using Zoom to communicate with their client base.
It’s clear that the landscape in which we communicate with customers and our internal teams is rapidly changing. Zoom is simple to navigate and it has all of the features that you need for prospecting new customers, conference calls or your daily standup call. If you are looking for ways to ways to communicate effectively here are a few reasons why Zoom should be your virtual meetinghouse.
- Perfect for Sales Pitches – Just because your customers are a plane ride away, doesn’t mean you can’t give them a first-class experience. Let your customers see your product firsthand, with screen sharing options.
- Conference Calls – dial in and listen without being glued to your computer screen. Download the app to your favorite smartphone so that you don’t miss a minute of the meeting.
- Video Meetings – interact with your team via video – great, for your daily stand-up.
Why we love Zoom? Frankly, it works. Plain and simple. Unlike other platforms, where video connection can be spotty and the screen sharing disconnects you can even use it from thousands of miles up in the sky. Yep, that’s right. Zoom is airplane compatible. We can fully attest, we’ve tried it and it works.
How’s that for upping your communication and productivity game?
Voxer
What if we told you we found a way to communicate effectively with your remote team that decreases the amount of time you spend texting and emailing? Voxer takes communication to the next level by added instant voice communication. Yes, we’re talking about an audio messaging app! It includes the same benefits of the traditional modes of communication that you love such as texts, videos, and even gifs but with voice messaging capabilities.
If you haven’t given an audio messaging app a try, its easy to implement and your team will immediately see its benefits. Texting and emails can often lead to miscommunication and are inefficient. By sending quick audio messages you can make sure everyone is clear. You’ll never be kept hanging or wondering if your email was read – with read receipts.
Messages can be sent via Wi-Fi or data networks across the world. Voxer is compatible with headsets and Bluetooth. So, if you don’t want to disturb or let those around you overhear your messages, you can listen in with the assurance that your messages are private.
Voxer is particularly great if you have a contract worker or an on-demand team where turnover is common. Voxer Business allows company admins to add and remove users at their leisure. As a Manager, you can create usernames and divvy out passwords (no email needed) providing administrative controls that most messaging apps lack.
Communication and productivity go hand and hand. Outfit your team with the right communication tool so that you can maximize team collaboration.
Chimp or Champ
When it comes to being a manager do you know how happy your employees are? Sure, you might have a high-level overview from those yearly or quarterly surveys your company takes. But do you really know how your team is feeling week-to-week? In a study completed by Chimp or Champ, they reported that happy employees are 83% less likely to leave and 23% more productive.
Every good manager knows that one of the best ways to keep employees for the long-haul is making sure that they are happy in their role. Your employees do spend a good chunk of their day at work after all.
If you are looking for a tool to track company engagement and satisfaction than Chimp or Champ is your tool. Rather than pulling out your hair and grinding your teeth when employees start running as fast as they can out of your company’s revolving door, you will already have awareness of whether or not improvements need to be made.
Employees are able to leave frequent and anonymous feedback so that not only can you get a sense of company culture but you can evaluate yourself as a manager.
Pricing will only set you back a little as 1$ per employee per month (basic plan).
LastPass
Pretty much every website you click on today requires a password. With so many sites, who can remember every password? Recalling hundreds of unique passwords tasks mastery that many of us lack. We don’t need to tell you about the rise in cybercrime over the last decade, and recallings those 12 character passwords can give anyone a headache. Worry-free, with LastPass. Store all of your usernames and passwords within a single login.
What we like about LastPass:
- Share usernames and passwords with all members of your business. This is great if you have a single login for one site and share it amongst several people. Ever get locked out of an account because someone on your team changed a password and doesn’t relay the memo? You can automatically update the password for all, so no one will be confused.
- Passwords can be private or viewable by others.
- Extra security – Google Authenticator enablement. Great if used on a shared smart device or desktop.
- Password recovery – give a trusted person access to your LastPass. Having a master password can be frightening, especially if you are forgetful. When logging into your LastPass at work your manager can have access to your LastPass account for the emergency reset.
BaseCamp
Time is a valuable resource so try not to overcomplicate things. That is why you need a tool that organizes your team’s tasks all in one place so that you can cut down on your workload. If you haven’t heard of Basecamp, it’s a team collaboration and project management tool that is applicable for most businesses. The intuitive interface makes it user-friendly to web users of all ages.
When you have a stockpile of collaboration tools chances are something will fall through the cracks. Whether it be communications with a customer or a campaign project that had great steam to start but eventually winds up buried amongst a backlog of projects.
Since tasks pile up quickly dividing and conquering can be a bit of a balancing act. With Basecamp, create to-do lists and assign due dates when in the midst of crunch time and give access to all team members to see the progression of the project. Here, you can also attach documents and chat with your entire group.
Create automatic check-ins so your team knows they are accountable. Basecamp even has calendar integrations that can be shared on a company-wide schedule.
If you are finding communication and productivity to be a balancing act and have limited resources, you may want to think of ways that you can organize all tasks at hand by implementing Basecamp.
Communication and Productivity Tools Enhance Team Collaboration
Adding these tools into your back pocket, will not only improve your team’s strength and streamline their workflow but it will make team collaboration a breeze. No matter, what tools you choose to implement you currently do not have a shortage of options to choose from. You’ll want to make sure you do your research before implementing.
We think these team collaboration tools are the cream of the crop, so give em a try and see for yourself.
