Team projects are an important part of many businesses. Often multiple people with different expertise are necessary to bring a project to the best conclusion. Unfortunately, the larger the scale of a project, the more potential there is for it to experience delays. Procrastination may not be the problem, it may just be that employees are diverted due to more imminent deadlines.

If you’re worried about how long projects are taking to bring to completion, here are hacks you might not have considered for speeding work along.

1. Team Collaboration Software

The bigger the project, the more likely it is to naturally span a long period of time. Most employees have a multitude of projects and other job responsibilities demanding their attention at any given time. This can make this type of major project the first thing to be pushed aside as more immediate deadlines take priority.

One of the best ways to keep momentum going is to use team collaboration software. This software enables everyone on the project to see the amount of progress made by others on the team. Projects that might have been mentally placed aside, take on new urgency when others on the team are making progress. Competitive employees are likely to rise to the challenge to try to meet or exceed the amount of work completed by others on the project. Less competitive employees are likely to be spurred on to quicker action, simply because they don’t want to publicly look bad, compared to others on the team.

Team collaboration software can also reduce the time between steps. Projects often require certain elements of a project to be completed. The team collaboration software provided by Glasscubes enables each member of the team to see the current status of each component. That means employees can begin working on their portions of a project, as soon as the preceding portion has been completed by another person on the team. No more need to wait for project update meetings to move on to the next step!

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2. Meet Standing Up

It can seem like team meetings take up more time than the actual work on the project. It can be important for team members to meet face to face to discuss issues and provide updates. Unfortunately, these meetings can eat up valuable work time without accomplishing very much on the project.

Limiting how often meetings are held can be useful. Typically, there are a few team members happy to spend hours in meetings rather than working. Meanwhile, other employees will be frustrated and bored with the time wasted in meetings. If there is little information that needs to be conveyed during the meeting, keep them short by holding them in a room with no chairs. Provide a quick snack or treat to attract the team to the meeting and reward their hard work. Then keep them standing until the meeting is completed.

3. Project Updates & Deadlines

To keep your project front and centre in the minds of your team, provide regular messaged updates. These can be a great reminder on the importance of the project, what has been completed, and the remaining work to be done. If possible, add milestones within the project to avoid all the work being delayed until the last minute. The project updates can be the perfect place to remind everyone of upcoming deadlines and show appreciation for the progress that has been made so far.

4. Celebrate Milestones

While you’re providing updates, be sure to talk about upcoming deadlines. Be sure to recognize when your team has met a Reward your team by honouring their accomplishments and meeting deadlines to spur them on to greater speed. Long term projects can drag on so by setting goals strategic points within the project, is helpful but so is celebrating reaching those milestones.

In addition to thanking everyone for their work, try to work in a small celebration or reward reach key goals. Even a few minutes in a conference room with a few tasty treats could help motivate your team to work more quickly on the remaining work. To avoid a reward gathering eating up the rest of your team’s productive day, schedule it for later in the day, after work, or simply provide treats, without a gathering. If your budget doesn’t allow for treats, consider sending everyone home a few minutes early as a reward. Another alternative is to make your appreciation public by posting your congratulations to the team your office breakroom or other public space.

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

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