Many companies today strive to create an environment of open collaboration and transparency. The belief is that valuing transparency will create better work environments and more successful teams. However, committing to the idea of transparency is not enough. If the tools companies adopt to enable and encourage collaboration create friction, people often avoid using them — which undermines the very notion of transparency.
Friction occurs when the effort it takes to use a tool outweighs the benefits it provides — when individuals can’t find the content they need, when they try but fail to find out who owns and maintains particular content, or when there’s no obvious way to tell when documents were last updated. Many users of common collaboration tools spend more time trying to figure out how to access the information they need than actually interacting with their desired content.
Transparency is about making open information actionable and reducing friction for everyone. At EveryTeam, we’ve rebuilt the collaboration tools used to share information across teams. An essential element of transparency and collaboration is consumption, and we’re focused on improving the readership experience for all teams. As a team member, you want to know:
- Who owns this content and to whom should I direct my questions?
- Is this information still relevant?
- When I contribute content, will the right people see it?
By focusing on these experiences inside of EveryTeam, we’ve reduced friction and brought transparency into day to day workflow. Clear maintainership makes it easy for everyone to know who owns particular content and who they need to go to for more information. Change documentation and version control alleviate the uncertainty teams experience with manually updated version documentation. Review reminders ensure that documents remain alive and up to date. Subscriptions to relevant content keep readers informed and active, and approachable communication tools encourage collaboration through in-line commenting, task assignments and meaningful notifications.
EveryTeam enables teams to curate shared information in a way that tells a story, empowering teams and individuals to contribute effectively to the company’s big-picture goals. Creating a culture of transparency and collaboration requires companies to be thoughtful when selecting software tools. At EveryTeam, we’re removing friction to enable teams to trust their shared content with a repository that makes it easy to find information, know who maintains content, and see when it was last updated.
We believe in the power of great tools to elevate transparency and empower positive, productive collaboration within and across teams and we’re now looking for 50 select customers to join EveryTeam! Sign up at www.everyteam.co.
