20 Proven strategies and 31 best tools to boost team collaboration in 2022

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic more and more teams are working remote. This not only includes working from home but also from different geographies and time zones. Team collaboration has never been more important. What used to be a simple task of walking over to a colleague’s desk and sharing information, now is more complex. Seamless collaboration means team members can reach out to each other easily through email, calls and video chats to discuss the issue at hand. When all these means of connecting with each other happen naturally without any extra effort or stress, just like connecting in person, the collaboration is seamless. Seamless collaboration fosters a sense of shared responsibility. Things get done faster and without any errors. Everyone’s productivity goes up and there is higher customer satisfaction.

The success of team collaboration depends on the company’s existing practices, strategies and communication tools that are used within the organization.

Here are some ways to promote team collaboration and boost productivity

1. Get a good collaboration tool

There are collaboration tools for just about every type of business. Online collaboration tools help both remote and in-house teams achieve greater levels of coordination, complete projects on time, optimize resources and achieve higher productivity. Provide access to team collaboration software that can bring all communication like email, chat, audio calling, screen sharing etc in one place.

2. Improve communication

According to the statistics, 57% of employees report not being given clear directions and 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general. Improving communication is key to improving collaboration. Therefore, organizations should invest in the right tools, get regular feedback from employees, encourage two-way communication between employees and management and organize team-building activities.

3. Reduce emails

According to a McKinsey report, the average professional spends 28% of the workday reading and answering emails. That equates to a staggering 2.6 hours spent and 120 messages received per day. By agreeing with your team on communication rules, you can reduce distractions and eliminate email overload.

4. Reduce meetings

One survey revealed unproductive meetings prevent 65% of workers from completing their work. Meetings also increase the chances of people committing mistakes in their work. Face-to-face meetings were replaced by Zoom meetings post-pandemic and soon many employees started suffering from Zoom fatigue. Companies must streamline their communication in such a way that only a few meetings are needed.

5. Foster creativity

Motivate your team members to think outside the box. Creativity inspires employees to work with each other and inculcates the mindset of continuous learning. Creativity also encourages employees to seek new information, knowledge and new ways to solve the same old business problems.

6. Allow team members to take the initiative

By encouraging your team members to come up with new initiatives, you can transform a sluggish and disengaged team into one that is lively and problem-solving. An innovative culture can make employees proactive, engaged and committed drivers of business performance.

7. Communicate expectations

It would help if you communicated to your team members the importance of collaboration. Make sure that they understand this is the minimum standard for being part of the team. If everyone understands your position on collaboration, it becomes easier to execute different tasks.

8. Clarify the team goals

Your team members need to feel that they are working towards the attainment of something specific. Jointly create measurable goals and clearly define what a win is. Doing so gives them a sense of purpose and unity.

9. Recognize and reward

Research by OfficeTeam shows that 66% of employees and 76% of millennials would quit their jobs if they felt unappreciated. Lauding individual performances will motivate other members to perform better as well.

10. Streamline work processes

Your company processes must be clear and straightforward to ensure team collaboration. You do not want a situation where each team member has their own way of doing the same task. That would cause miscommunication and disagreements. Streamlining work processes ensures everyone is on the same page.

11. Track team members’ progress

As you encourage your team members to collaborate, each one of them wants to see their efforts pay off. Track the progress of different tasks assigned. In so doing, you can confidently show your team what has been achieved and what’s still pending.

12. Get feedback

Taking regular feedback from your employees gives you a chance to see where the problem exists and how best to manoeuvre around it. Managers must identify the issues that are affecting team collaboration and keep them at bay.

13. Honor requests and keep promises

Keeping promises and honoring requests goes a long way in cementing your team. Broken promises are the cracks that start to separate team members. As a team leader, you must keep your word.

14. Highlight the strengths of your team members

Empowering team members by focusing on the core strengths of each person allows them to work together collaboratively. That allows them to view each other as teammates and not competitors.

15. Resolve conflicts

For better team collaboration, leaders should identify potential conflicts between the team members and deal with them accordingly. Handling conflicts at the early stage and resolving them amicably will save the company lot of time and money.

16. Nurture a positive attitude

Keep the team environment open and creative. Leave the judgments on the sidelines. Encourage your team to see any obstacles as something they can conquer together. Nurture a can-do attitude. Provide adequate training that will ensure their development. If you want your goals realized, you need to encourage your employees to produce their best.

17. Build cohesion within your team.

Build cohesion within your team. After all, there’s no ‘I’ in the team. Keep everything inclusive as much as possible. Daily huddles are particularly helpful. They allow your members to share what they have done or will do. This helps keep the workflow moving forward.

18. Encourage team members to share

While internal file-sharing software can help your team members to access the resources they need to do their jobs, creating spaces for sharing knowledge, insights, and resources will improve team coordination and cohesion.

19. Lead by example

If the top management of a company is good at exhibiting collaborative behavior, then this will filter down to your team members. Top-level managers should also be good team leaders to set an example for their subordinates.

20. Collaborate offline

Offline team building activities such as team lunch, impromptu morning coffee, beer after work etc help team members to bond with each other based on mutual interest.

These tips and strategies discussed above will help you to improve the decision-making process and overall business productivity by improving team collaboration. The best thing leaders can do to improve team collaboration is to make the process of collaborating a great experience.

Best online collaboration tools for business growth

During this pandemic, online collaboration tools have become a permanent feature of the modern workplace. These online collaboration tools are cost-effective and allow employees to work from anywhere and at any time using any internet-enabled device. Companies are showing great interest in implementing online collaboration tools to make their employees more productive. A study by Deloitte shows that a vast majority of the business leaders believe that providing their employees access to modern online collaboration tools can improve productivity by as much as 20–25%.

Every employee on average spends three hours a day searching for information and sorting emails. A carefully chosen online collaboration tool will help you to save time wasted on this unproductive work. A good online collaboration tool should be able to bring all your communication like email, chat, calls, screen sharing etc in one secure, online platform and connect all of them so your team members can find the information they need without searching. Online collaboration tools will significantly reduce the time spent on long email exchanges and make your communication more efficient.

Types of tools for office collaboration

1. Online chat: You need a flexible chat tool that can reduce your in-person meetings, phone calls, and unnecessary emails. Chat is a powerful way to quickly communicate with the whole team and streamline your workflow.
2. Online project management: Having access to a good project management tool will help you to manage the whole team, maintain all the necessary documents, keep costs under control and meet the project deadlines.
3. Audio and video: For team that is geographically dispersed, audio and video calls are very important to collaborate and stay updated on the project developments.
4. Cloud storage: Maintaining all the necessary documents in the cloud helps you to collaborate better so that the location constraints are not felt.
5. Reminders and calendars: They are very important for the smooth flow of work and meet project deadlines.
6. Social media integration: Since social media is slowly becoming a work tool, you need a system that can integrate social media into your everyday work app.

Advantages of using online tools

1. 27x7x365 access: Online tools provide access for the entire team, anywhere and anytime. Most of the companies guarantee 99.99% uptime for their tools. With cloud software, collaboration between employees improves drastically. You also get automatic access software updates. The advantage of anywhere access facilitates remote working.
2. Low cost: There is no installation or maintenance for the online tools. You can pay as you grow and there is no fixed cost for the license. Moreover, you don’t have to employ technical team around-the-clock to take of your systems and servers that are mostly energy intensive.
3. Security: You don’t have to worry about the safety and security of the applications, as they come with in-built safety features. Cloud applications are far more secure than the on-premise ones. The various compliance issues are also taken care of.
4. Data accuracy: When you store all your data on the cloud, there is less chance for data contamination or duplication. Data backup and data recovery are also easier when compared with on-premise
5. Mobility & Flexibility: With online tools, you can carry your work wherever you go and most of the cloud applications are also available as mobile app, giving you both mobility and flexibility when it comes to accessing the applications.

31 essential tools to boost team collaboration in 2022

Every tool is different, and it brings its own advantages to the table. Thus, it becomes important to sort out the features for each and make an informed decision. But don’t worry, we’ve done the work for you. Keep reading to know more about some of the best collaboration tools. These online collaboration tools are cost-effective and allow employees to work from anywhere and at any time using any internet-enabled device.

1. Clariti

Clariti is one of the fastest-growing online collaboration tools especially among small and medium businesses and the startup community. Clariti is a free business productivity web app that brings your emails, chats, call, to-dos, documents…in one app and automatically links related items in a “TopicFolder”. TopicFolders add topic-centric organization to your communications, so you are never lost or waste time searching for information. TopicFolders allow you to easily see the big picture and make informed decisions. Clariti is ideal for small and medium businesses to boost team collaboration and drive productivity.

2. Chanty

Chanty is a cloud-based collaboration platform that combines communication, project management, and automation to help teams work together more effectively. Chanty helps teams improve productivity and business collaboration. Unlimited message history, task management, file sharing and powerful notifications organize and save your day.

3. Twist

Twist is an app that makes sense of chaotic teamwork. Collaborative conversations are at the core of the platform, with threads that keep discussions easy to access and well-organized. Each thread gets its own topic, and features include channels that offer organization by department or project, internal messaging systems to keep conversations private, inbox-style design for thread management, built-in search etc. Mindful features have also been added into Twist, with online indicators, notification control and the ability to stop all notifications when you need time off. If communication is bogging down a business, Twist can help.

4. Pronto

If you want to experience the power of having your entire organization on one collaboration platform then you should try Pronto. It covers the entire organization from top to bottom and allows its users to send and receive critical organization and keeps everyone on the same page. Using Pronto you can share any file type — documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, photos, videos, and more. Pronto integrates with all reputable cloud storage repositories, including Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud, and Google Drive. Using Pronto you can create reminders for yourself or others in your groups — attach files, photos, or videos and assign due dates with auto-reminders for each task.

Using Pronto you can chat via live video with up to 20 participants all streaming video, or up to 400 participants observing. Pronto Meetings allows participants to join via video or audio-only, record the session, change views, share files or your screen.

5. Brosix

Brosix increases teamwork through rich messaging and collaboration features and robust administrative control options. Brosix enables you to create a communication environment that truly addresses your team’s needs. Brosix users can control who is added or removed from the network, and can easily manage users through a range of administrative features. Brosix comes with a package of unique features and tools aimed at boosting team collaboration and streamlining communication. From a range of chat options to screen-sharing and unlimited file transfers, Brosix is designed with the modern work environment in mind. This makes it an excellent solution for enterprises looking to improve their productivity.

6. pimentaCHAT

pimentaCHAT is a unified collaboration and communication tool for companies, universities, associations and churches. pimentaCHAT lets you make a video or audio call to more than 50 people at the same time. It is a central platform for cooperation. It doesn’t matter what kind of work you want to do. PimentaCHAT let you reduce emails by including relevant participants with the @username mention to notify them immediately. pimentaLIVE lets you make video or audio calls with screen sharing for more efficient teamwork.

7. Stashcat

Stashcat’s channels for teams and groups are not limited to any number of participants. You can create a channel for individual departments, teams, or the entire organization, even if there are 50,000 or more participants. Administrators retain control over all communication via read and write rights. Using Stashcat you can exchange ideas with one another in individual or group conversations. Conversations allow two to ten people to talk to, are always end-to-end encrypted and allow all types of data to be shared.

With Stashcat, each user has their own file repository in which files can be stored, accessed and used at any time. In addition to this personal file storage, each conversation and each channel has its own storage for shared files. Each file repository offers the option of creating folders to organize your files perfectly. Stashcat’s video conferences allow up to 75 people to exchange ideas in a closed, virtual room.

8. Swit

Swit brings just the right amount of everything for collaboration — from chat to ideation, to file sharing, to task management. With Swit, you can turn your conversation into trackable tasks and share the full context of tasks to chat simply by drag and drop unlike any other. You don’t have to get frustrated any longer to go back and forth between chat and tasks losing context. No more pain from different UI/UX, scattered data silos, overlapped features, repeated custom settings in a disjoint multi-app environment. Wherever your goal takes you, your team will get there faster than ever on Swit — the all-in-one-for-all workspace.

9. Element

Originally known as Vector, Element is one of the most secure online chatting apps with end-to-end encryption. This makes it a good tool for teams that require a safe place to send confidential information. Further, Element is the perfect platform to collaborate on with other developers over the open Matrix network. Element is apt for use in varying team sizes.

10. Yammer

Think social networking but on an organizational level. You’ll get Yammer. This collaboration tool makes it easy to communicate with people across your organization and get answers to your questions, even if you don’t know who to ask! Users can be kept in the loop about organizations’ day-day happenings. You can also create and join groups within specific teams and share media and documents in conversations!

11. Glip

Today we are living in a world of remote meetings and teams. Glip is the best online video calling software to conduct meetings with remote teams. There is no time limit set on the meetings and you can have up to 100 participants in one call. Glip also has a live chatting, document sharing and task management features that promote productivity.

12. FrontApp

Enhancing customer experience is one of the best ways to ensure retention. FrontApp is the best channel to engage with customers on. It brings emails, apps and teammates into one place. There is a universal inbox that all teammates can access, meaning context is never lost. FrontApp also makes it easy to manage the workflow of your whole team.

13. Collaboard

Some people work better visually and for them, Collaboard is the perfect collaboration tool. It is a website application that allows its users to create mind-maps, diagrams and notes for projects. Collaboard has features like notes making and editing which allows users to exchange ideas with ease and efficiency. There are various tiers to the product, with advanced features that users can subscribe to.

14. Miro

Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard for teams. It is a good tool for ideation and brainstorming that can be accessed by multiple people at once. This collaboration software allows its users to draw maps, progress trackers and custom charts with facilitates easy project tracking.

15. Quip

Quip is a mobile and web-based software that makes document creation easy. Teams can collaborate on documents, spreadsheets along with chatting within the software. It facilitates mess-free collaboration and propels work within a team. Quip also has multiple document templates that gives you a head start on your work. This online collaboration tool is perfect for Sales and Service teams.

16. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is one of the leading work management software available. It has spread sheet views, calendars and Gantt Charts that allows teams to plan their work and execute in an efficient way. Smartsheet can also seamlessly integrate with leading productivity suite software making work collaboration simple.

17. Todo.vu

Todo.vu combines the power of CRM, task management, time tracking and billing functionality. It is the perfect tool for freelancers that deal with multiple clients. Since there is an inbuilt billing function, users don’t have pore over their time spent to actions completed ratio. It’s all there in one place! Small agencies can also make use of this tool to accurately measure their task timings for client billing.

18. ProProfs-Projects

Managing multiple projects can be a big task to oversee. However, thanks to software like ProProfs, the job becomes much easier to handle. Managers can assign tasks, track progress and discuss with the team all under a single dashboard. And the best part, you can also generate reports on the progress and invoices for the clients with a single click!

19. Box

Box is a Content Management software that allows you to collaborate with users wherever they are and from whatever device they are using. Box offers premium security for its users making it a trustworthy platform to store your work. On Box, you can seamlessly integrate countless apps that are used for productivity and work management making it easy to work with.

20. Slack

This famous collaboration tool has a sleek user interface that allows employees to interact with each other in both private chats and public channels.

21. Airtable

This option is meant to collaborate on tracking and planning larger initiatives across teams. It can track independent project as well as dependency tasks between teams.

22. Google Chat

This technology is great for organizations that commonly use google suite products such as google slides or google sheets, because it is tightly integrated with the entire google suite.

23. Trello

Trello helps teams track projects by filtering them through different stages on a “board”. It has a simple, functional UI that is good for small or medium sized projects.

24. Asana

Asana is a great tool when you need more nuance and complexity in project planning than a tool like Trello can provide. Asana can track projects, tasks, bugs, and other elements in a flexible variety of ways to ensure productivity.

25. Troop Messenger

This collaboration and communication option is designed for larger organizations split across many teams, so if that describes your company, this software might be a good choice for you.

26. Discord

Discord’s main draw is that it provides always-on voice chat for its channels, which allows users to feel as if they are connected and able to have dynamic conversations even from far away.

27. ProofHub

Like Asana or Airtable, ProofHub is designed to track larger projects and manage their component pieces to ensure everything is executed smoothly. It doesn’t have quite as many features as Asana, but that also means it can feel more streamlined.

28. Microsoft Teams

Just like Google Chat may be a good choice for a company that already uses many google suite products, Microsoft Teams is highly integrated with Microsoft Office products and may be good at increasing productivity for companies that use those Microsoft Office products a lot already.

29. Flock

Like Chanty, Flock is an option that blends elements of a chat tool with project management capabilities. It is particularly good at managing work that is cross-functional in nature.

30. Gitlab

This tool is tailored towards developers, but if you have a development team that needs to collaborate on a shared codebase, Gitlab is the de facto way to make that happen.

31. Invision

The same way Gitlab empowers developers to work together, Invision empowers designers to work together to create sleek, shared UX for apps.

These Online collaboration tools will help your team to get more done in less time. Using online collaboration tools will boost productivity, help you maximize your profits, and make your employees more satisfied. Online collaboration tools can help you cut down on unwanted cost and other time-sucking activities.