Although remote work has become increasingly popular over the years, since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, it has become more common than ever. Away from numerous debates over how much levels of productivity may be affected when switching up the workplace, let us take a look at the importance of collaboration, and how people have been made more aware of this since they work from the home era has blown up.

Ensuring you still have time for a bit of chit chat

When people lose the ability to spontaneously connect with one another, they find ways to substitute. Often, some of the best ideas come from casual chat, so don’t worry if you find your meetings frequently run over – socializing is a fantastic way for colleagues to speak about and arrange successful collaborations.

Microsoft actually found that, during the pandemic, its meeting times increased by ten percent! So the key takeaway is not to put all of your energy into productivity and to allow yourself to collaborate and connect with your colleagues.

Investing in technology to enhance ease of collaboration

Remote collaboration isn’t going to work effectively unless the right systems are in place. It’s unlikely that colleagues will be happy to call each other every time they need to speak to someone in the team, so make sure that technology is available for casual conversation, video calls, instant messaging, etc.

A unified communications platform such as Horizon Collaborate offers a range of services to make collaboration easier for all involved. Something as simple as a video call can go miles towards ensuring that collaborations are effective for everyone.

Remember that collaboration is a constant process

Teams need to collaborate all the time to share thoughts, provide ideas, give feedback, etc. One of the easiest ways to make sure everyone is getting the time they need to discuss their work is to give each other constant feedback.

Having to work from home made everyone realize the value of giving and receiving feedback, especially if you’re not able to see each other’s reactions or emotions in a person. With the right systems in place, collaboration should come as easily and naturally as it would in the workplace – allowing everyone to give and receive feedback every step of the way to help prevent anyone from falling off the wagon, so to speak.

Final thoughts

When working from home, this eliminates the potential for spontaneous learning, as we no longer will bump into colleagues at the coffee machine or water cooler. Whilst this is true, there are many other ways for learning and creativity to happen spontaneously when working remotely – you just need to create an environment that fuels creative collaboration.

Overall, the pandemic and the working from the home era have taught us that having the right technology and services to allow high-quality collaboration to take place is vital. On top of that, keeping in regular contact with those you work with and ensuring everyone receives continuous feedback aids successful collaboration, no matter the other circumstances.

So, in conclusion, the work from the home era has cemented the importance of collaboration as an essential part of any workforce. And with creative ideas and innovative technology, we can ensure employees can effectively collaborate, wherever they are based.