subject: How Collaboration Tools Help To Bridge The Communication Divide [print this page] The key to an effective team is always great communication. A good team leader knows how to harness different ideas and tap on the potential and strengths of various team members. This can only be achieved when good communication between the team is present.
Thankfully, in this day and age, there are plenty of collaboration tools developed to facilitate communication as well as to share information and ideas. Whether you are across the room or across the globe, electronic collaborative tools help you easily bridge the communication divide.
The difficulty then comes in knowing which collaborative tool will best boost effective team communication. In this article, we discuss some of the common types of collaborative tools that can be harnessed for effective communication.
Collaboration tools can be broadly classified into Collaborative Project Management Tools, and Collaborative Management Tools and Collaborative Project Management Tools can be said to be a subset of Collaboration Management Tools. Collaborative Project Management Tools are used to facilitate all detailed aspects of a given group project. This is in contrast to Collaborative Management Tools which might be used just to facilitate one aspect of the project.
It would perhaps be easier to illustrate with an example.
Collaborative Project Management Tool (E.g. Electronic Calendars): An electronic calendar would have a comprehensive set of features that include appointment calendars, appointment reminders, and sharing of availability with other members of a group. Thus, the collaborative tool of the electronic calendar would allow group members to brainstorm for an available date for a meeting through sharing of their schedules. After deciding on a date, the group members can share attachments or files with regards to the meeting. Before the scheduled meeting, they will receive reminders of the appointment and can also continually view it on their own calendars. In this case, the electronic calendar follows through the many different aspects of scheduling an activity and can thus be considered as a collaborative project management tool.
Collaborative Management Tool (E.g. Email): In contrast to the Collaborative Project Management Tool, the Collaborative Management Tool will only look after a certain aspect. In the example of an email, group members can make use of this tool to communicate and share information. However, the function of an email is simply to facilitate web sharing of information, and not specifically designed to follow through on the scheduling of a meeting.
Depending on the level of group collaboration involved, Collaborative Management Tools can be further classified into Communication or Conferencing Tools. Communication tools include simple tools such as emails and fax that allow people to share information. Conferencing tools are slightly more complex and interactive, and include tools such as video conferencing and instant messaging. These conferencing tools enable real time interaction between the members of a group, beyond facilitating the transfer of information.
Understanding the usage of various types of tools and what they can do for you is a critical step in using them effectively to achieve the best results. Of course, it is also important to be creative in using these tools, and even combining the usage of different tools in order to achieve optimal team performance.
