Better Teamwork: Apps and Processes to Help You Achieve It
In the dynamic business landscape, teamwork is a power to be reckoned with. A strong team comprising individuals on the same page working towards shared goals is certain to propel any business forward in no time. To achieve sustained growth, it is crucial for businesses to set up a teamwork strategy that will pave the path to prosperity.
When it comes to actual tips, however, it’s important to note that the term “teamwork” means different things to different people. Typically, it includes collaboration, efficient communication, and a shared vision aligned with the business mission, so we’ll stick to this definition.
In this article, we’ll deal with apps and processes that can help any business master teamwork.
Let’s get started!
Develop Action Plans
Action plans for team effectiveness can help businesses boost team performance and pinpoint target achievements.
To truly master the art of action plan creation, take a look at the following checklist:
- Defining clear goals and expectations
- Communicating expectations and responsibilities clearly
- Fostering open communication by encouraging feedback (optimally, anonymous)
- Deploying communication tools to uphold seamless team collaboration, project management, and data analysis
- Nurturing an inclusive team culture where everyone’s efforts are valued
- Defining clear milestones and deadlines
- Prioritizing tasks
- Streamlining organizational processes
- Encouraging continual learning
- Providing training resources
- Setting in place processes to support teams
- Planning team-building activities
- Tracking team performance
- Planning for challenging times (make your milestones adjustable)
- Recognizing team achievements
If you manage to include all these elements, your team will truly be unstoppable. Basically, all these steps will help your business build a culture of excellence where turnover worries will become a thing of the past.
Some recommended tools include Microsoft Planner (action planning, task assignment, and collaboration), Smartsheet (task scheduling, resource management, and reporting), ClickUp (action planning, task management, and collaboration), Jira (suitable for software development teams), and Basecamp (recommended for to-do lists and efficient communication).
Cherry Pick Business Apps for Scheduling
Remember the days of appointments written on napkins?
The good news is — these days are long past. Enter workplace digitalization, the powerful tool that can skyrocket team efficiency in a matter of days.
Small business apps for scheduling have changed the business landscape for the better. Not only do they make collaboration easy-peasy, but they also integrate with other business tools. In short, they help businesses keep their teams on the same page with ease.
E.g., the finest of scheduling apps feature automated reminders and provide insights that are changing the name of the game as we speak.
Certainly, there are tools and tools, and not every business needs to deploy the same ones. Defining your priorities and the features provided is crucial.
Some general recommendations include Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, and Doodle. Take a look at what they offer to get an idea of what to expect.
Nail down Leadership Development
Training for leadership development is what makes a business stand out from the competition. This should be a no-brainer, as it only stands to reason that exceptional leaders have an eye for unique opportunities.
Leadership training and development is, perhaps, the most difficult point to define as the strategy relies on a business mission and pre-defined goals. Still, certain general tips are applicable to all businesses, so we’ll mention them briefly below.
First of all, you should focus on training methodologies that will help your leaders develop and polish the following hard- and soft skills:
- Decision-making
- Communication
- Problem-solving
- Interpersonal skills
- Productivity
- Efficiency
- Emotional intelligence
- Innovative thinking
Other skills may come to mind; make sure to align them with your business goals for the best results.
As for tools that can assist you in this undertaking, some recommendations include Executive Leadership Council (ELC), Harvard Business Review (HBR) Ascend, LinkedIn Learning, Dale Carnegie Training (interpersonal skills and communication), Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), Gartner Leadership Vision, and Cornerstone OnDemand.
Set up a Rock Star Management Team
Managing your team can be challenging, especially if you’re deploying hybrid work models. Office teams and remote teams need to be aligned, which can prove a challenging task indeed, specifically for large businesses.
However, new tech has made even this daunting task possible. The cumbersome steps to assembling rock star teams have, at least, become easier.
What makes a team stand out is stellar communication, alignment, and a positive team culture. To achieve this complex goal, make sure to communicate expectations, delegate tasks accordingly, and provide autonomy.
The latter is the usual missing link. The trick is to train your teams to know their roles and responsibilities and company goals so that they can enrich operations with their original take.
Some recommended team management tools include Slack, Asana, Trello, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Basecamp, Airtable and Microsoft Planner.
Establish Conflict Resolution Guidelines
Finally, it is essential to tackle (potential) conflicts early on and offer viable solutions for their resolution. By encouraging continual learning and providing training opportunities, you’ll be able to offer the desired career paths — a certain way to prevent conflicts from ever arising.
However, human nature is an unknown; there will always be team members with different standpoints. That’s why it is recommended to establish conflict resolution guidelines, which should include clearly outlined protocols and a solid conflict resolution framework.
New tech won’t go far in addressing the issue, with one exception: hybrid events can uphold team building, so relying on feedback for recommendations is a promising approach.
What’s more important in this regard is to equip your leaders with soft skills that will aid in conflict resolution. Typically, the following skills will do the trick:
- Clear communication
- Active listening
- Empathy
- Understanding employees’ motivation
- Mediation (typically, collective problem-solving)
- Respect
- Valuing employees’ contributions
As you can see, there’s a lot to be done to boost teamwork, so start by developing action plans that will detail all guidelines mentioned here. Allow for alignment and variations and you’re good to go!
