The setting in which team members are expected to collaborate is expanding and changing every day.
Employees don’t always work in adjoining cubes, in a traditional office, over a morning cup of coffee in the conference room. With a combination of on-site, flex, and remote employees, most organizations are finding that collaboration has become increasingly difficult for their teams.
These numbers help explain the change in communication and collaboration that has to occur:
- The average 500-employee company now has over 12 office locations on average (Census Data).
- Almost half of all Americans (43 percent) do some of their work remotely.
- Thirty percent of employees telecommute four or five days a week.
- Employees who telecommute three or four days a week are most likely to be engaged, leading more and more companies to consider offering more flexible work arrangements.
While these trends provide many benefits for companies and workers, they also pose new challenges related to keeping employees connected, aligned, and engaged. In order to accommodate changes in the American workforce and digital workplace setting, leaders need to implement solutions and processes that connect employees across department, physical, and geographical lines.
Even more important, leaders must invest in and commit to effective employee communication using the tools and processes they’ve implemented. Clear communication and a coaching culture are keys to encouraging and supporting collaboration among teams. When this strategy is successfully launched, employees are engaged, connected, knowledgeable, productive, and innovative.
