Team Collaboration in the Remote Era: Trends and Tips

One study has shown that collaborative teams are performing 5x better because they feel motivated towards a common goal.

Undoubtedly, team collaboration is the foundation stone of any successful business. Owing to that, collaborative workplaces see an increased level of trust and engagement and that results in an improved performance bind with synergy.

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Hey there! Pull up a virtual chair; let's chat about something that's shaping the way teams work together in today's world: remote collaboration.

This is from the CEO hat for Kroolo, and we can say it has been good to observe the transformation of remote teamwork over the years. It is sort of a big puzzle comprising all trends, challenges, and their solutions. And now, we are drawing a very interesting picture.

Working remotely is not a trend; it is a complete lifestyle. There have really been some radical changes within the landscape from teleconferencing devices making us believe we’re sharing the same space to the latest flexibility in terms of working-place and work-timing.

However, the advantages of efficiency in teamwork are always underestimated by the managers. Well, a recent study from Salesforce has revealed that of the 1,400 executives, employees, and educators surveyed, 86% noted a lack of collaboration was responsible for failures in the workplace.

Running a collaborative team environment is not an easy task. Embedding values and philosophy of collaboration requires a huge effort on the total business culture/ethos. This is where we’ll examine and emphasize online collaboration software for remote team support.

So, grab a coffee or tea, get comfy, and let's dive into this exciting world of remote team collaboration, trends, tips, and how Kroolo is stirring up the game!

 

Remote Team Collaboration Trends in 2024 

Experts have been outlining trends in the workplace that will affect how work is done in 2024 and further. Some of the big shifts include the following:

• Remote and hybrid work is here to stay. It’s not surprising that the 2023 State of Remote Work report by Buffer highlights that 82% of remote workers are working from home. The same report also points out that 71% of companies are permanently allowing some amount of remote work. 
• According to Business Insider, companies will be investing mostly in team collaboration tools. Because they believe that the investment in collaboration software is in direct proportion to the team’s productivity at the workplace.
• In the coming years, there will be an advent of more freelancers and gig workers. According to a report by Upwork, 58% of professionals who are not currently freelancing said they were considering it in the future.
• In 2024, candidates will be chosen from diverse geographical locations. There will be a renewed interest in digital nomadism with an expectation of flexibility in work.
• The future job market will evolve and invest majorly into upskilling and reskilling to maintain its competitive edge. Managers will mostly look after identifying skill gaps and hone them to give their best.
• Lastly, remote work often blurs the boundary between personal and professional work. Therefore companies will emphasize burnout and focus on offering mental health support programs.  

 

Unveiling Collaboration Challenges: Insights from Kroolo’s CEO

According to the CEO of Kroolo, navigating through collaboration may look like a smooth sail at first but it can be rough waters. Let’s now consider the main challenges he talks about and go on to lighter team cooperation.

1. Meeting madness: Setting clear goals

The CEO of Kroolo expresses a concern with the number of meetings that overrun calendars for which there is no objective. Think of a packed boardroom room full of faces unsure why they are there. Sound familiar?

• Purpose-driven sessions: Make your “routine updates” become a place for solving problems, emphasizing challenges instead of ordinary things.
• Trim the team: Ensure that only necessary parties attend meetings.
• Asynchronous alternatives: Think about moving regular meetings to asynchronous modes or merging them for effectiveness.

2. The “work about work” beast

Have you ever felt buried in task mapping, meetings, and talks about the real job? Kroolo pinpoints this shortcoming and stresses up need for a united platform to control such waste.

• Single-platform strategy: Imagine a digital hub in which all work-related discussions, tasks, and updates come together so as to eliminate the disorder brought about by numerous channels.
• Contextual cohesion: Consider a realm where people do not miss out on the conversation and can access information at any time without having to hunt for it through threads or channel creation.

3. Illuminating transparency

According to the State of Business Communication report, 43% of business leaders claim that poor communication decreases productivity and 38% of business leaders have noticed the financial impact of poor communication among team members.

Thus, you can’t miss on transparency among teams. Clear communication can be however challenging to develop and implement at work. But it can be transformative, especially for remote workers in anticipating a difficult conversation.

• Goal-centric transparency: Communicate the overall goal and how the individual work contributes to the big picture.
• Unified platforms for clarity: Give each team a place they can gather, where all the wheels of the organization are clearly visible in one glance, encouraging spontaneous internal collaboration and cross-functional projects.

4. Collaboration’s compass

When it comes to collaboration, you can’t miss Kroolo. This is one of the best collaboration software for your team. It lets you build and manage your team easily by adding multiple members and defining their roles clearly.

You can create channels, invite members, and engage in discussions across teams to foster seamless communication and collaboration.

• Unified platforms: Invest in the smart collaboration software that lets you create tasks, manage goals and projects, share documents, and promote team collaboration under one roof.
• Integration potential: Want to avoid multiple tools and want to integrate everything into one? Try Kroolo. This is an all-in-one productivity software where you can multiple workspaces, break down silos, and create one system for all.

P.S.: You can integrate ClickUp, Asana, Trello, Slack, Notion, Google Docs, and more in one unified platform. Stop switching apps and invest in the right ONE.

 

Tips for Leveling Up Your Remote Collaboration

Well, it’s no fact that remote collaboration is the new norm. Companies from all over the world and different verticals are investing in hybrid working to gradually level up their remote collaboration. Let's explore some tips on leveling up remote collaboration -:               

1. Clear communication channels

Establish communication guidelines for the team. Ascertain the recommended modes of communication in different scenarios such as meetings, and general short messages, among others, in order to minimize miscommunication and ensure information is relayed effectively.

2. Embrace collaboration tools

Use platforms like Kroolo that consist of several options such as document sharing, task manager, team collaboration, and real-time communication. This means that you can centralised your workplace even for remote teams making it easy to achieve a simplified workflow and enhance teamwork among themselves.

3. Prioritize in-depth work

Cal Newport introduced us to the idea of deep work, which he defines as, “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limits.”

Start prioritizing quality work. It’s easy to get into a trap of business for the sake of business. And, many times multi-tasking lose 5%-15% of their cognitive efficiency while switching between tasks. Therefore, block your time to truly scout your creativity and tap into quality submission.