4 Project Management Strategies For Successful Collaboration
Team collaboration has always been one of the core areas of project management strategies. Founding it on solid ground will help the group work more efficiently toward achieving targets. Without this, it would be impossible to finish a large task through disjointed efforts from individual members.
A study by Workmajig found poor communication to be one of the top causes of a project’s failure. There is enough reason to consider how communication is vital not only for completing projects but also for securing business growth.
In order to improve communication across your teams, consider these 4 strategies to fuel meaningful collaboration across projects.
1. Create a transparent and conducive environment
One of the project management strategies that leaders in the company often overlook is the importance of transparency. This has always been a problem for employees as they’re kept in the dark on a need-to-know basis on certain project details for the reason that they’re not part of the management.
However, transparency is the key to creating a workspace where all of you can be on the same page. According to surveys, 97% of employees believe that transparency largely impacts the outcome of a project.
Involving the members to focus on the outcome of the whole project rather on just individual tasks helps promote accountability. By letting everyone in the team see the tasks and schedule for delivery, they’ll get to see the big picture of how each of their work contributes to the whole project. As we all know, the failure of one member can be the downfall of the whole team.
Crystal clear objectives can be discussed with the help of a project management tool like Flujo which features essential functions like Team messaging, Calendar, Drive, Meetings, Kanbans, etc.
With a tool like Flujo in place, it’s easier to give your teams a holistic view of the project goals and encourage everyone to share information they know. Notes, briefs, and clips can be instantly shared with the team without having to switch between apps every time.
Remember to also engage your team members to give their suggestions and to objectively receive feedback, so everyone will be more empowered to do their best toward the completion of the project. Feedbacks can be communicated in private or in teams so that members can review it as often as needed.
2. Use better communication alternatives
According to a study, 59% of workers say that communication is the biggest obstacle for their team in achieving success. Although some methods and tools can be used to overcome this challenge, there are factors that companies overlook because they believe things are working according to their expectations.
For instance, using email for communication can be ineffective, since other non-related messages get mixed up in there. It’s easy to get lost in the endless stream of emails and forget the urgency of some of them.
By using traditional email and other messaging apps, finding message exchanges with other team members is like looking for a needle in a haystack. You’d be wasting precious time searching thread after thread just to find a single bit of information you need.
Messaging apps like WhatsApp are created for your everyday instant messaging needs when it comes to friends and family. But in a professional setting where cooperation among team members is necessary, you need a collaboration tool that does more than just send and receive messages.
Working remotely creates another communication problem, especially if the team relies solely on using email or regular instant messaging apps to reach other members. Urgent matters that can’t be left unattended for the day may be missed unless they’re discussed through phone or video call.
Flujo also serves the role of a project management tool that empowers collaboration by doing more than just exchanging messages. Sharing files, uploading images, creating events, running polls, and holding video meetings are just some of the features that the platform offers.
Message threads can be grouped instantly into certain topics to make them easily searchable for future reference. You’ll never get lost navigating endless streams of messages with threads.
With Flujo being available in mobile and desktop devices, it’s convenient to be in sync with the team wherever you are; you’ll always be up to date on where the team is at.
3. Regularly give updates and reports
A sound project management strategy always involves giving updates and reports because these will tell where the team is at relative to the target.
It’s easier to measure overall progress when each member regularly provides reports of what they’ve accomplished. The same goes for issues encountered as the team can react quickly to resolve challenges when they’re informed about it on time.
You may be using a different project management tool for scheduling meetings and pinning to-do lists. Utilizing separate collaboration tools defeats the purpose of increasing productivity because you have to keep track of the updates on each application.
With Flujo, you can host video meetings in a single platform and talk with up to 50 members, making it convenient to request updates regarding the project status. You can schedule your meetings quickly using this tool and never miss one with the help of alarms and reminders.
During meetings, the team can easily write and share their notes on the same platform. This makes the information exchange seamless and transparent, ensuring every important detail discussed is put into writing.
4. Centralize files in one repository
With all the document exchanges and file transfers that happen during work, it can be hard to track files related to a specific project. It’s not unusual to see a document get lost, only to find it later after the team has already expended resources in creating a new one.
Having a single repository where all project-related files can be found is one of the no-brainer project management strategies to implement.
Flujo provides up to 100GB of storage space per user on the platform. That’s enough space for storing documents, images, and even video clips. And if you ever need more, you can ask your teammates to share their extra space with you.
What’s amazing about our collaboration tool is how it automatically organizes your files in separate folders according to your team conversations. No need to manually create folders to get the team organized and get confused with personal naming schemes because our Drive can do the work for you.
The advanced search engine of the Flujo platform makes it easy to find files in an instant, regardless of the data type.
Afraid of sharing all your files with external contractors and temporary staff? You can invite them as guests on the platform and manage their viewing rights, so you can rest assured they only have access to files they need.
Getting the Right Collaboration Tool
Companies are becoming increasingly diverse in hiring talents regardless of their geographic location. It’s not uncommon to see a team member from another country that follows a different time zone. Work-from-home arrangements can also present challenges in terms of teamwork, especially if there’s no centralized platform where communication between members can be kept on record.
Flujo is the perfect project management tool, unifying everything you need for team collaboration into a single platform. With Flujo, you can create any number of teams, share numerous files, store countless conversations, and host hours of video meetings.
You can learn more about all these features at our Help Center. Every feature on Flujo is carefully crafted to help you and your teams stay productive. Share your feedback with us by tweeting @flujohq.