It’s been proven over and over again that project management skills and systems can increase the efficiency, effectiveness and success of a business. By keeping more information organized, more projects planned and more reporting documented, work moves forward and business success increases.
But businesses can’t achieve their highest goals or their greatest successes without incorporating collaboration into their project management processes. Working together with a team is the cornerstone of all business.
Here are 3 of my favorite ways in which increased collaboration within project management aids in increasing business success.
- Checks and Balances
- Communication and Project Management in One Place
- Increased Pride in Final Product
In this article, I'll go into detail about each benefit listed above. Let's start with the increased benefits of Checks and Balances within a collaboration and project management system.
1. Checks and Balances
I don’t know anyone who works in a vacuum and is completing their tasks and putting them toward the final product without a bit of feedback. It’s the feedback that drives individuals to increase their own skills and the overall end-results of the project at hand.
Within your project management process, make sure there are many intuitive steps in which to review work, offer feedback and make updates if needed. If your business is utilizing a project management solution, or you are thinking of implementing one soon, make sure your solution allows for this type of collaboration and opportunities to give feedback.
Find ways to comment on files and tasks. Share thoughts on project development and execution. Ensure that the work being completed and submitted is the best it can be and meets the standards of the project.
By having many people review the work, you know the outcome is of high quality. And this way, more than one person is aware of the work being completed so they can be certain of the final product when delivered.
Communication and Project Management in One Place
If you are utilizing an online project management solution, does it enable you and your team to communicate and collaborate? If not, it should. There are huge benefits to increased collaboration and communication within the project management system itself. The biggest benefit is, of course, not separating communication from the work that is being done.
Imagine working on a task, such as doing research or creating a slideshow, and when you had a question about it, you had to move away from the system in which you are documenting your activity and email someone. Now the information is no longer kept next to the question itself, and you are forced to explain more in your question than you need to in order to get your point across.
Then, 3 days later you finally get an answer, but without context you aren’t sure what it means. So you spend a couple minutes figuring out what the answer is referring to, then you have to get back in the groove of completing your task. As you can see, this process causes you to lose time and effectiveness when completing your work.
Make sure you are working with project management solutions that allow for communication and collaboration, such as with instant messaging features or file sharing and commenting features.
Keeping all communication around a project in the same system as the project is being completed makes it easier to locate important information, ask and answer questions, and focus more time and energy on completing a project with quality.
Increased Pride in the Final Product
When more of your team members are working on one project, they all have a hand in the destiny of the project. And, when the project succeeds, they feel a great rush of pride that they helped make that success happen. This increased pride in the outcome of their hard work will drive your team members to continue working hard to see that success and to feel that pride again.
So why not offer them feedback right within your project management system? Allow time in your planning process for sharing positive feedback with your team, and at the end of the project, recognize success and pat your teammates on the back for their hard work. And offer feedback along the way within your online project management solution by posting comments and encouraging notes throughout the project development process.
Keeping this positive, encouraging communication around the projects will help drive future success and increase pride in your business products. Enjoy the increases in positivity and overall business success with a strong collaboration and communication process.
What other ways do you encourage your team and recognize their success for a job well done?