Benefits of effective team collaboration
Studies have shown that when people are collaborating they are more motivated to work on a task than those who aren’t. Additionally, those who do are more engaged and successful. Here’s how enabling a more collaborative environment can benefit an organization:
Efficient communication — Counterintuitively, more collaborative teams should have fewer meetings. If everyone has access to the same information, there’s less of a need to “level set”, or have catch-up meetings or private conversations, which means fewer opportunities to derail progress. By being transparent at every step of the process and documenting all information in a central location, teams can streamline face-to-face (or video) conversations to be more useful, promoting things like brainstorming and creative problem-solving. Learn why collaboration and communication go hand-in-hand.
Better business results — The most successful teams are able to hit their goals thanks to clear ownership, workflows, the right tools, and the kind of efficient team communication mentioned above. Team members working towards a common goal should feel a sense of camaraderie and true collaboration means that everyone has a stake in the ultimate success or failure of the project. See why knowledge-driven collaborative cultures outperform the field.
Why wikis and other knowledge bases are key collaboration tools
All successful collaborative teams use strategies that require documentation. Why? Well, in order to be implemented correctly, strategies have to be in a centrally located information repository so that everyone can refer back to them when things might seem to be going off-track. While a simple document or FAQ might seem to work, here’s why collaborative knowledge management software is a better bet:
Easily see when something was last updated — Documents can easily go stale, and version control can be especially concerning when there’s a large number of people involved. A good knowledge base or collaborative wiki makes it simple to see a) when an item was last updated and b) who updated it.
Break large pieces of information down — Instead of long documents, modern knowledge bases reward short-form information to make searching (and updating) easier and clearer. Instead of having to republish a multi-page operating document every time there are new team leaders or business processes, only publish the item that has changed — and push that specific update to all members of the team who need to see it. See why bite-size knowledge is best.
Make information available to everyone, everywhere — Whether you’re primarily collaborating via a chat app like Slack, video conference, email, or in-person, the information you need should be available right within your communication tools instead of having to switch tabs and searching. Instead of having to make sure everyone’s looking at the same part of the doc, good, collaborative wiki tools integrate with the platforms you use to make it easy to post or link to specific articles right in the interface in real-time.
Ready to try the best collaboration software for free?
Guru’s collaborative knowledge management software is the most powerful wiki option for your team. Get your whole team aligned, streamline communication, and, most importantly, get your evenings and weekends back when you document your company’s information in Guru. Start for free.
