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The power of connected teams
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The power of connected teams

Michael Rudenko
Michael Rudenko
16th July, 2024
10 min read
person connected to others in different locations
Michael Rudenko
Michael Rudenko
16th July, 2024
10 min read

Connecting teams is essential to unlocking smarter working and boosting collaboration worldwide. Here's how you can excel at connection.

For many businesses, remote or hybrid working is now a way of life—making it more challenging to maintain connections across your organisation. Keeping everyone connected may seem like an arduous task when work spans the entire organisation—from finance, HR, marketing, operations, development, logistics, training, QA and research.
Emails are notorious for creating overwhelming messages and vague requests, burying important information, and delaying responses; spreadsheets can only take you so far. Work management solutions can help to overcome these limitations and foster a culture of connection and collaboration. Many senior leaders now favour work management tools to help create connections at every level of the organisation. Our special work management report, 'Productivity is not a place', reflects this uptick, suggesting that instant message tools slowly overtake emails. With built-in intelligent AI features, these platforms enable business teams at every level to increase output, work smarter without increasing resources, and better connect their work to business goals and outcomes.
In this blog, we delve into how you can help your teams plan or collaborate better, whether within the team or interdepartmentally, regardless of their location and the benefits of doing so. Let's get started.

The benefits of a connected workplace

The connected workplace unlocks a world of possibilities that fuel organisational growth. Employees who feel connected can form stronger relationships and collaborate more effectively. This alignment leads to enhanced teamwork, increased knowledge-sharing, and more effective problem-solving; ultimately, it can drive faster decision-making processes and improve project delivery.
A connected workforce operates as a cohesive unit, and the free flow of information and ideas resulting from better connections enables organisations to harness their teams' collective intelligence and adapt swiftly to changes in the market.

Improving connections across the organisation

Connection is crucial. However, outdated practices such as email chains and excessive meetings can hinder productivity and stifle team member engagement and the enjoyment of their role. These traditional communication methods can lead to information silos, miscommunication, and a sense of detachment among team members. These consequences only intensify with a distributed or remote workforce, who feel this most keenly.
As technology evolves and connection and agility become more crucial, modern communication tools can help keep pace and maintain a competitive edge. By embracing work management technology and platforms, you can create a connected workplace where employees thrive, and businesses reap the benefits.

Work management challenges

In today's climate, businesses must navigate many challenges regarding work practices. Teams can resolve many of these challenges with better connections in the workplace. Let's look at some critical challenges and how work management tools can help.

Communication and collaboration

Poor communication in the workplace paves the way for misunderstandings, low morale, and decreased productivity. When you have a geographically distributed workforce, it can become more challenging to maintain the lines of communication and encourage collaboration. Work management platforms can maintain communication workflows and ensure everyone involved in the project is up to speed with their roles and responsibilities. When everyone is using these tools, it helps to avoid confusion, misunderstandings, and delays. These platforms combine real-time updates and communication, task tracking, and project coordination to streamline team collaboration, task management, and project execution. Regardless of where they're based, your teams can discuss, brainstorm, and plan projects with each other, making it easy to collaborate across different locations and departments.

Departmental silos

Silos appear when businesses use too many disconnected tools and teams to get work done, which hinders communication and collaboration as teams take longer to get on the same page. It's easy for work to slip through the gaps, and the risk of duplication of effort rises. However, a unified work management platform to manage time, resources, teams, and tasks enables all work to get done in one connected place, fuelling team collaboration, communication, and connection, fostering a one-team, safe work environment.

Understanding the broader business needs

In large organisations, it's easy for individuals' skills and expertise to get lost or unrecognised. Work management tools allow greater visibility on projects that everybody is involved with, making it much easier for teams to harness the skills brought to the table and work collaboratively while sharing knowledge and industry best practices.

Flexibility

Not all minds or industries process information the same. Tapping into flexible solutions allows you to tailor your task management to your team's specific needs on both an individual and team level. Many work management tools include built-in features that enhance flexibility and enable you to visualise data differently, providing one version of the truth. For example, you can create data dashboards, different visual views, filtered views, and calendars—all in one place. There are personal views for individual team members, and managers can have various views for planning, reporting, and supervising. Plus, many tools have functions for project boards to talk to each other for cross-team collaboration. All this is available immediately, with every update available to you in an instant.

Managing your time

With so many tasks to juggle, miscommunication, and scattered conversations to navigate, time management can be a big challenge. Missed deadlines, unclear expectations, and forgotten tasks can also complicate timelines and lead to accidental inefficiencies. Work management software fixes these failings by centralising team tasks. Having everything in one place with clear organisation streamlines task prioritisation and expectations.

Harnessing work management tools for better connectivity

Work management software can help overcome communication challenges by providing a central platform for communication. With features such as messaging, task management, and document sharing, these solutions make it easier for employees to communicate and collaborate. Work management tools can provide valuable insights into team communication, allowing businesses to identify where to improve.
The right software can help you overcome these common challenges and simplify processes from scheduling and time tracking to communication.
Investing in the right software for your needs can save time, reduce errors, improve team member satisfaction, and increase productivity. Adopting a system that streamlines and automates work frees your teams to focus on essential tasks and contribute to business goals.

AI: making work management feel less like work

Recently, AI capabilities have been adopted by the world's leading work management solution providers, like Atlassian and monday.com, to transform our work. Our 'Productivity is not a place' report found that almost three-quarters (73%) of companies surveyed confirmed they are investing in AI, with the other 25% intending to do so in the next six months. Moreover, of the entirely remote organisations, 100% confirm current investment in AI.
To solve some of the biggest challenges business teams face, AI-powered work management tools like monday.com and Jira can make a big difference. Recent AI feature investment and focus have meant these tools have been enhanced with AI capabilities to make work management feel less like work by supporting automations, making task tracking easier and associated searches across confluence.
AI-powered tools relieve the strain of everyday tasks, helping to boost productivity and make collaboration more seamless. By embracing new technology, you can overcome some of the most common business challenges, improve efficiency, reduce time-wasting, and make life easier for teams across your organisation.

A new era of work

As we enter a new era of work, one that features remote and hybrid models and evolving workplace dynamics, cultivating connection at every level in your organisation is crucial. Despite being geographically dispersed, your teams need meaningful connections that foster a sense of purpose and belonging to do their best work. By embracing technology and platforms like Jira and monday.com, organisations can create a vibrant and connected workforce, propelling their growth and success in the future.
people working together remotely, using a variety of tools

One team approach

At Adaptavist, we believe in the power of collaboration and partnership. Our approach means that we work closely with your teams as a unified entity, breaking down silos and fostering a culture of mutual respect and shared goals.
We ensure seamless communication and collaboration by integrating our consultants with your staff through work management methodologies. This holistic approach enables us to deliver exceptional value to our clients, ensuring successful project outcomes and long-term success.
Written by
Michael Rudenko
Michael Rudenko
Head of Consulting EMEA
After retiring from the Royal Army Dental Corps, Michael led major projects for the NHS and the London 2012 Olympics. With 30+ year's experience, he fosters trust, collaboration, and efficiency, and excels in complex agile, DevOps, and work management settings.