Enterprise Collaboration: Why You Need It & How to Improve It
Enterprise collaboration at its most basic level comes down to how a large organization communicates. It includes the various technologies and platforms that individual members of the organization rely on to discuss work, deliver feedback, and cross-pollinate their ideas. The use of enterprise collaboration software can also reveal a lot about a company's culture and how they assist or impede the exchange of ideas and information. Enterprise collaboration software is becoming more popular each day, as companies look for efficient ways to connect increasingly dispersed and remote teams. In fact, one survey noted that 60% of respondents planned to purchase some sort of collaboration software for their business. Here we talk about what enterprise collaboration is, why it’s important, and how directors and project managers can strategically use it to increase productivity. We’ll also go over frequently asked questions about implementation and introduce a new tool to help you get started. What is enterprise collaboration? Enterprise collaboration is the process of helping diverse teams work together — which sounds simple, at first. But, in a world where thought leadership and personal branding are still on the rise, many individuals are now being hired as specialists who function independently rather than generalists who are used to working as part of a team. Even if this isn’t your company’s hiring strategy, you may have noticed a recent uptick in contractor and support roles throughout various aspects of the organization. Either way, it’s up to enterprise directors and project managers to help these individuals function through one cohesive system even though they all may be miles apart, a one-time contributor, or have competing goals. In addition to providing support systems for day to day tasks, teams will also need help understanding what the big picture is, how each project supports that vision, and what contributions every team member is expected to make. Why is enterprise collaboration important? In an Inc.com article, Wrike CEO Andrew Filev points out two undeniable benefits of collaboration: By collaborating internally via social tools, wikis, videoconferencing, and more, you increase productivity. By collaborating externally with customers, partners, and vendors via user forums, blog comments, social media, live webinars, conferences, and meetups, you gather feedback that increases innovation. It makes sense that cross-functional team collaboration as well as external collaboration with stakeholders improves efficiency and effectiveness. When communication channels are open, it's easier to find the information you need or turn to colleagues and customers for feedback and assistance. In addition to this, collaboration helps organizations meet top business priorities such as improving business processes and reducing enterprise costs. The Aberdeen Group surveyed 299 organizations and discovered significant benefits of enterprise-wide collaboration: 53% improvement in customer service metrics 49% improvement in workforce productivity This data proves that enterprise collaboration helps teams and customers alike. When processes are improved and communication becomes more efficient, team members can focus on delivering value to customers. How does enterprise collaboration boost project productivity? Enterprise collaboration boosts project productivity through a holistic approach. First, you begin by taking stock of where your team is today. What tools, workflows, and systems are already in place? How do those help or hurt progress in the short and long term? After you have a good idea of which areas need improvement, you move on to strategy. Connect the dots between your business goals, project goals, and team goals by discussing them with your collaborators all at the same time. Before you can even begin to establish a new way of doing things, you have to get everyone on the same page. This is exactly what the first phase of enterprise collaboration does. Then it’s time to try new strategies, examine your results, and adjust as needed. These steps are often long and involved, but they’re key to figuring out how to maximize your team’s potential. As you go along, actively listen to what people say about their project productivity and be prepared to apply feedback on what is or isn’t working. When you approach project management through this lens, you’re able to boost productivity by bringing everyone in the loop through strong communication practices such as centralized document sharing and @ mentions that directly bring collaborators into the conversation without missing a beat. Laying all the components of your workflow out also helps anticipate breakdowns before they even happen. It also makes it easier to try new things. This is an essential part of increasing productivity because, as we all know, if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll just get the same results. What are the challenges of enterprise collaboration? The number one challenge of enterprise collaboration is complexity. With competing voices and priorities in the mix, it can be tough to sort out even the simplest workflows. For example, let’s say a marketing agency is collaborating with a freelance designer for a client’s website. If the client prefers to be extremely hands-on, you’ll need to have a strong enterprise collaboration system in place in order to prevent their feedback from derailing forward movement. Then there’s decision-making. Choices like task management, meeting arrangement, and workflow designation can benefit from the input of everyone involved. But if a project manager or director doesn’t create rules and systems, it’s really easy to miscommunicate, promise deliverables without consulting team members, and create other issues that leave a bad taste in the client and the collaborators’ mouths. Even if your team already has its own internal way of getting things done, it may be hard to bring new people into the fold as one-time contributors. Enterprise collaboration is meant to be agile so if your team needs to adjust their process at any stage, you’ll need to quickly accommodate, reforecast, and keep everything moving without missing a beat. At the end of the day, using enterprise collaboration in your business saves everyone a lot of time and unnecessary headaches even if it takes a little set up or getting used to. Enterprise collaboration starts with culture, not tools In the past decade, the number of enterprise collaboration tools has exploded. Although they're beneficial tools, they're not an out-of-the-box solution for an organization hoping for immediately efficient teamwork. After all, any technology that promises collaboration cannot bring about change on its own. There has to be a simultaneous shift in internal culture — from individual silos to transparent and generous sharing of ideas and resources. That shift doesn't happen overnight. It has to be something that your organization works at every day in the processes it puts into motion and in the policies it enforces. Good enterprise collaboration habits to instill into your organization You can begin to infuse enterprise collaboration habits into your organization on a macro and micro level. The three most important habits for both include: Consolidating all project updates to one single source so everyone can refer to the latest information with ease. Being conscious of realistic timelines for projects, phases, and even individual tasks. Taking care to work within realistic limitations on budget, resources, and personnel. Why you should invest in enterprise collaboration software One way to move toward enterprise-wide collaboration is to get teams accustomed to sharing information within a collaborative platform. Choose a platform that enables file sharing and open conversation outside of long email threads. You'll have to take baby steps to get individuals to voluntarily share their workloads, upload the files they're working on, comment on best practices, and even draw in other people into their projects for cross-team collaboration. But once something as simple as a habit of sharing information becomes ingrained in the company's culture, it becomes easier to build processes for wider collaboration between teams in the enterprise. Introducing Wrike as the enterprise collaboration platform for your company The best way to communicate company-wide project systems is through Wrike’s highly visual system that makes it easy to adjust as you go and add input from outside collaborators without sacrificing productivity. Chances are if you’ve been using the same old system even though your team and the world at large has radically changed, your usual workflow needs to be examined. Note what works, remove what doesn’t, and use customized dashboards to streamline the rest. Here’s a sample of Wrike’s standout enterprise project management features: Collaborator calendar management so that you always know how to balance the workload amongst your team even if they’re working on more than one project at a time. Visual timelines that allow you to drag and drop tasks to both plan projects before they begin and quickly adjust as you go. Internal messaging so that details like deadlines and meeting links aren’t buried in anyone’s email inbox. Review and approval cycles that plainly show other team members what’s going on at all times. Collaborator dashboard views you control so they can follow progress without getting too wrapped up in the backend process. In a nutshell, Wrike is a highly effective, full-scale solution for enterprise collaboration on projects of all sizes. With it, teams are empowered to work together with and not against each other. Take it step by step Your organization doesn't have to jump head-first into doing everything collaboratively. Start by creating space for individuals to connect within the organization and grow ideas with shared resources. It's about building an enterprise-wide framework for productivity, innovation, and velocity. Wrike can help your enterprise organization improve cross-team collaboration at every level. Start a free trial today and try it out with your team.
The Ultimate Guide to Total Quality Management (TQM)
Your organization does good work. But, as a leader or a project manager, you feel like a lot of it rests on your shoulders. Up to this point, it’s been your responsibility to review everything carefully and make sure your company’s outputs meet your quality standards. It’s working, but you know there has to be a better way. What if you could set up a system and a culture where everybody is invested in quality? What if you could refine processes that lead your team to consistently and reliably deliver top-notch work? It’s possible, and it’s a concept called total quality management. What is total quality management (TQM)? To put it simply, total quality management (TQM) is a set of principles that helps organizations do their best work. It focuses on helping companies evaluate and refine their processes, with the ultimate goal of improving their outputs and delivering a high-quality customer experience. In many companies, managers and leaders accountable for the quality of work and the success of the organization. However, total quality management spreads the load more evenly. Since every employee is involved in delivering the work, they are also held accountable for its quality. What is the history of total quality management? Think total quality management is something new? Think again. This concept has some pretty strong historical roots. Quality control has been around for ages. However, a mathematician and statistician named W. Edwards Deming is seen as the pioneer of the concept of total quality management. He saw flaws in U.S. production, especially when it came to quality control. Deming thought it was odd that management controlled the production process, despite the fact the line workers were the ones who had boots on the ground — and, as a result, had far more insight into how an effective process should run. He lectured on this topic in Japan in the 1950s. Japan was receptive to the concept of total quality management and quickly began implementing it. Upon seeing the success of those efforts in Japan, total quality management spread across the rest of the world — eventually becoming commonplace in the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s. Why is total quality management important? Total quality management can feel like a difficult concept to wrap your arms around, and it’s tempting to write it off as another complex, academic subject that doesn’t have applications in the real world. But that’s not the case. Many successful companies — like Toyota, Xerox, and Motorola — implement total quality management. Why? Well, because it can lead to a number of undeniable benefits, including: Higher-quality products and services: This is the obvious one. When you intentionally and mindfully manage a process with quality in mind, you improve your outputs. That’s the biggest benefit of total quality management — your team delivers top-notch work. Improved customer experience: A focus on the customer is a core principle of total quality management (which we’ll dig into in detail later). Keeping an eye on the needs of the end customer means you offer a better experience, leading to more loyalty, a better reputation, and even increased sales. Greater efficiency: Total quality management also hinges on processes, and even more specifically, continuous process improvement. Regularly evaluating your organization’s workflows and identifying ways to refine and streamline them leads to greater efficiency and productivity. Boosted team morale: Employee involvement is another core piece of total quality management. Every single team member rallies around a shared goal and commits to achieving it. That level of togetherness can lead to positive team culture and better morale. See? Total quality management isn’t just a stuffy theory or a buzzword — it can have real, measurable, and important effects within your team and organization. Using collaborative work management software (like Wrike) can make the process easier and enable even greater productivity. More on that a little later! What are the total quality management principles? Total quality management is about improving quality across the organization. But, it’s not quite as simple as saying, “Alright, we’re going to do a better job.” Total quality management has a formal set of eight different principles it’s based on. Here’s a straightforward explanation of each of those concepts: 1. Customer-centered You can think your processes, products, and services are top-notch. But, your opinion means nothing if your customers aren’t satisfied and impressed with your offerings. Organizations that implement total quality management always have the end customer in mind. They know their customers are the ultimate judges of whether or not their organization is of superior quality, and they refine their processes and offerings in the interest of the customer. 2. Total employee involvement Remember when we mentioned that total quality management isn’t something handed down from on high? Rather, it involves every single member of the organization in achieving a goal and improving quality. This can mean several different things. First and foremost, companies need to provide clarity around their objectives. Secondly, they need to provide the training and resources employees need to do their work efficiently and effectively. Finally, a high degree of psychological safety means employees have the freedom to push themselves — without the fear of repercussions for failure. 3. Process-centered Companies that implement total quality management don’t take a willy nilly approach to their work. Instead, there are prescriptive sets of steps and workflows for getting work across the finish line. These processes not only help them deliver more consistent work, but they also make production far easier to plan and monitor. That’s not to say these processes are set in stone. They’re constantly evaluated and improved upon. 4. Integrated system Every company has various teams and departments responsible for different tasks. However, with a total quality management approach, these different groups can’t operate in their own universes. Total quality management emphasizes the importance of the links that connect these different departments and functions. To preserve and improve quality, an organization needs to work as a cohesive, integrated system — rather than a collection of various teams. This requires a high degree of transparency and an understanding of the processes and work of other departments. 5. Strategic and systematic approach Imagine that you wanted to drive to Niagara Falls. Would you set out without any directions? Probably not, because you have no idea how to get where you want to go. The same is true for an organization. Total quality management requires that a company creates a strategic plan. Even more than that, the strategic plan needs to emphasize the importance of quality and quality management. 6. Continual improvement Companies that are invested in total quality management aren’t content to stick with the status quo. They’re constantly looking at ways to be better. This means evaluating processes, products, services, customer experience, employee feedback, and more to identify areas where you could improve. When you spot them, you need to address them and monitor them to ensure those changes actually benefited your work. 7. Fact-based decision making There aren’t many gut decisions made by organizations that implement total quality management. That’s because this approach prioritizes making decisions based on facts and data. Companies need to gather, organize, and analyze data about their performance measurements and use that to make their decisions. Total quality management doesn’t rely on intuition or best guesses. 8. Communications It’s hard to overstate the importance of effective communication on a high-performing team — and that’s why it’s a core principle of total quality management too. There needs to be clear and frequent communication across the entire organization to keep every employee in the loop on changes, operations, strategies, processes, and more. There’s no such thing as over-communicating. How does Wrike help with total quality management? Think total quality management sounds like a lot? It can be. But, rest assured, it’s not something that will be implemented overnight. Even taking small steps in the right direction can help you and your team improve your processes and work quality. Need some help? Wrike can help you satisfy many of the core principles of total quality management for project management, including: Total employee involvement: With clear and automated task assignments, every employee knows what they’re responsible for. Process-centered: Templated workflows allow you to create a process and easily repeat it for similar projects. Integrated system: Wrike provides visibility into what every team is working on (and working toward). Continual improvement: Wrike’s project status report will show you how projects are progressing and make it easy to spot sticking points in your processes. Fact-based decision making: Wrike offers a number of other reports to give you data about how your team is performing so you can make strategic decisions. Communications: With the ability to leave comments, tag team members, attach files, and more, Wrike keeps all of your communication centralized in one place. With a total quality management system like Wrike in your corner, you can help your team deliver top-notch work — without any added stress or hassles. Ready to jump in? Start your free trial of Wrike now.
