Does your team collaborate on document creation and share dozens of files a day? Do your teams have daily face-to-face meetings? Or do team members make use of the simply-yell-down-the-hall-and-through-the-kitchen method of communication when they need to raise an issue?

Understanding how your team or teams communicate; getting to grips with their needs and process – it’s what you as a leader need to do in order to make a difference that counts. It’s no good getting frustrated with missed deadlines if what you should be doing is making clear, considered changes to how your teams collaborate.

Let’s take a look at three basic tools of the Glasscubes solution, and see why they are so important for teams that need to communicate well to function well.

Integrated instant messaging

Messaging has moved quite a bit beyond the instant messaging of yore. We aren’t just talking about chat windows any longer. Do multiple members of your team frequently work on a single document simultaneously? Do they need to share comments and observations that show on a collaborators’ screen in real time? If close collaboration is called for in your business, they need frictionless communication channels and document version control, so that they can always the latest iteration of the document, and the latest project developments.

Not only does Glasscubes online collaboration software integrate instant messaging with the project, it facilitates group feedback and decision making with instant polls – the reduction in time spent in meetings alone is stunning when you can aim discussions at achieving collective evaluation and resolution in this way.

Imagine your team trying to raise an issue that’s recently come to light, allowing everyone to have their say, having different arguments made and discussed, and then taking a quick vote as to which is the best way to proceed – by email. It would be literally impossible! But with the right software, designed specifically for streamlined collaboration, this kind of group work is the norm – and you don’t even need to be in the same room to do it.

Conferencing calling

Have you ever been in on a multi-time zone conference call where someone spontaneously communicated with every member of the team together just to make a couple of quick points and make sure that everyone’s on track? The call lasted no more than 3 or 4 minutes, and everyone benefitted from the experience? No. That’s because this has never happened before in the history of conference calling. What’s more likely is that a time was booked a day in advance, but this got confused because of the different time zones involved. Then some members of the group failed to show up because they didn’t fancy spending the money on an international connection.  Then the dog started barking.

Well the Glasscubes solution doesn’t promise to stop the dog from barking, but what it does promise is that when teams share secure online workspaces, and have the availability of free conference calling, it’s incredibly easy to make and receive that call. Remote working relies on trust and access to key information when you need it. When calls are necessary, your team members need them to be simple, quick and effective – which means no bookings, no billing and zero fuss.

Conversation storage

Why do conversations need to be accessible and searchable to the team? Well, collaborative projects are by necessity complex. There are team members, leaders, CEOs, clients and partners who may all be involved at some time or another. Historically, this complexity has led to mayhem – but the kind of mayhem that is for some reason deemed acceptable.

For example, in the last project you oversaw, how many times did you witness a question get asked and answered on multiple occasions? If that answer were an animal, you’d see it evolve into different beasts, hide in the shadows, leaping to one side of the room only to later reappear on the other – in an entirely new form each time. That piece of information needs to be not a shapeshifter but a trusty pet, right there in the middle of the room, ready when you need it. With Glasscubes, that’s what you get. No-one is ever out of the loop, there’s no need to ask the same question a dozen different times, and the answer is always easy to find. This is efficiency and streamlined collaboration at work.

Since communication is at the heart of everything your team does, it makes sense to have the tools to facilitate that communication. When these same tools drive collaboration within a virtual office, it changes teams and the business they do together forever. 

Looking to create an internal communications plan, but want to avoid starting from scratch? Use our go-to template instead.

Glasscubes is a user-friendly collaboration software for teams. Connect everyone that you work with in an online workspace that improves the way you share files, manage projects and communicate with each other.

For more information, contact us by calling +44 (0)20 3274 2310 or email us at enquiries@glasscubes.com

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more industry related news and topics.