As if you didn’t have enough emails!!
Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to talk with many people about their experience working remotely and the connection to their teams, employees, and co-workers.
The response overall has been positive, with businesses able to continue working, accessing their information via the cloud, or connecting remotely to their office systems. However, there also seems to be a common issue, everyone is being bombarded by emails.
Scenario 1:
You have a document that you are working on and need input from other team members. You attach it to an email and send it out. Now there are multiple copies of this document floating around as you sit waiting for a reply. Someone in your team then emails you directly with edits about the document and forgets to cc the other members leaving part of the team out of the loop. When you want to work on the document again, you begin to wonder if you have the latest version….Now, you need to make the situation worse by sending another email to ask for the latest version.
Scenario 2:
As the team leader, you have asked your team to keep you in the loop with the day to day tasks and projects so that you can make sure things are moving efficiently through the pipeline. You receive your team’s responses at different points throughout the day, and you are still confused about where you are in the process.
When you’re in your office and need to collaborate, meetings happen by either gathering in the conference room or simply walking over to someone's desk to discuss the issue at hand. This is not possible now.
Email has become the de facto communication tool for sending quick messages with attachments and waiting for a reply. But it is quickly showing shows its shortcomings when working in teams on projects and tasks.
There is a better way! By streamlining the process of collaboration and using tools that are designed to allow teams to have a workspace for projects and tasks, the email bombardment will end. These tools give you the ability to keep track of what needs to be done so that nothing falls through the cracks
The advantages:
A single workspace for projects and tasks.
All information related to the project or task is organized in one place.
You see what co-workers are working on without having to ask.
You can assign tasks to members without sending out a bunch of emails.
You can comment and give input on information so the entire team involved is in the loop.
Here are some collaboration tools that can assist you in staying on top of productivity and keeping your team members in the loop.
Slack - brings the team together wherever you are.
Trello - Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.
Streak - keep your pipeline moving with simple collaboration.
Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams is the hub for team collaboration in Office 365
I have included these tools as links so you can explore, but I would be more than happy to do that work with you.
The Takeaway:
COVID has changed the way that we work. And we need to change with the times. Although you may be working remotely, it is important for team members to stay on task and equally important that issues don’t fall through the cracks. Collaboration and a streamlined process will allow you to accomplish this and put an end to the bombardment of emails.
Stay Safe and Stay Healthy.