Communication inside an organization today is far more important than ever. With the recent increase in information and knowledge, it has become almost impossible for an individual to achieve great success. Now when nobody possesses all the expertise to finish an important project, then, group knowledge and collaboration become more and more important. Setting up a robust internal communication system and keeping everybody on the same page is not just a pre-requisite but a matter of life or death for an organization.
Collaboration can not happen without communication. Both types of communications i.e. vertical (between hierarchies) and horizontal (between peers and other teams) are equally important. Without these two elements, we will not be able to deliver a seamless experience for our customers, that we strive for.
Here are few collaboration tools we use internally to keep everybody in sync, for quicker decision making, and to drive faster and better results.
Asana
Asana is our primary task management tool. We use Asana to manage a variety of tasks such as project planning, collecting MoM, collecting ideas, etc. Asana helps us to manage the day to day tasks without the fear of missing something and with a timeline commitment. It also provides peace of mind as there are fewer things to remember. No more losing track of important discussions with long threaded emails or accidentally missing line items on a busy Monday morning when the inbox is overflowing and every email is screaming for your attention.
Another major benefit of using a system such as Asana is that it provides a very clear sense of accountability. While emails are susceptible to the bystander effect, such problems are less common with tools like Asana where we can have a very clear differentiation between the task assignee vs followers. Also, the option to put a deadline is quite useful as it forces you to think in terms of commitments. While it is perfectly possible to shift a missed timeline, it is still painful when you have to do it multiple times. An item with a missed timeline never looks good on your task list. This helps us to create a system with dependability and accountability – the two solid engines for our growth flight.
Slack
Slack is our announcement board for all sorts of development that one can imagine. We have different open channels for multiple segments such as our customer interactions with planning parties. Anybody can subscribe to any channel as per their interest. It helps all of us to stay informed about the smallest to biggest information without being bombarded with emails all day.
It keeps all the team members informed about recent client onboarding, Customer training, updates on the sfa app to internal communication as to teammates announcing their sick leave, or hunting an apartment!
Slack messages are short and concise, and without much clutter. People prefer to talk to the point and always get appropriate responses.
Slack makes it easy for everyone to keep a track of what is happening in the organization. This knowledge, as a result, helps them to take their own decisions with ease when the need arises. It also allows them to understand the bigger picture and the decisions being made by other teams and they always have ways to contribute to our next moon mission.
WoW meetings
Week on week (WoW) meetings are the place where the magic happens. WoW meetings at FieldAssist are designed to set the high standards of goals and keep achieving them week after week with confidence. No anxiety or fear, brilliant collaboration, helping each other to achieve the shared goals of each team are the results.
Every team sets its own goal and milestones and each team member commits to his or her part for the same. Next week they will meet again to discuss how were they doing with the commitments made last week, set commitments for the coming week, and also tell people if they are facing any challenges achieving them. Other members of the team will always try to help them remove those obstacles thus allowing a continuous flow of progress and a strong team bonding that works like a family.
This also sets the expectations clear and everybody sees what they are contributing to achieving the higher goals. It is a reflection about how their work is impacting the organization as a whole. This is also an opportunity to make a change if something is not working. As these meetings take place every week and most of the teams at FieldAssist are autonomous so they can quickly iterate ideas to find out what works best for them without waiting for management approval.
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