Equitable collaboration is top of mind as leaders seek solutions to empower employees to contribute their knowledge and feel "heard," no matter where they work.
More than 43% of employees are expected to work from home part or full time, according to a recent global study by Logitech.1 There’s no doubt that hybrid work environments are here to stay. And with the increase in remote workers, a smart balance of collaboration is critical.
Lenovo’s global study, The Future of Work and Digital Transformation, identified collaboration as one of the top values of the Gen Z and Millennial workforce.2
However, collaboration overload is actually taking a toll on people’s productivity. In fact, time spent on collaborative tasks like videoconferences, phone calls, email, and instant messaging has risen more than 50% over the past decade, and consumes 85% more of most people’s work week,3 according to a recent Harvard Business Review report.
Advances in technology are reducing time spent on tasks and contributing to smarter, more productive ways to share information and collaborate. Ultimately, an equitable approach to collaboration improves the work experience and empowers people to contribute their knowledge and feel heard.
Empowering your workforce with smart collaboration tools
Equitable collaboration is a work model that provides employees equal access to the networks, resources, technology, and information they need to work productively in a hybrid environment. It enables employees from any location to contribute their knowledge in a meaningful way and feel more connected to their organization. Advances in technology, emerging augmented reality, and artificial intelligence continue to improve the way employees experience collaboration, whether onsite or remote.
- Videoconferencing. Artificial intelligence is making the experience more immersive. Features like transcription, chat, polling, hand gesture support, and whiteboarding engage meeting participants. Providing higher-resolution screens and high-speed internet connectivity can also improve the videoconferencing experience for remote employees.
- Mobile collaboration. The ability to connect from anywhere on short notice is critical for employees on the go. Using noise canceling headphones with mobile video devices reduces distractions in noisy or high-traffic public places.
- Teams Rooms. Microsoft is introducing Front Row, a content layout for Teams Rooms that’s ideal for asynchronous and synchronous communication. The horizontal full-screen video gallery feels more like a face-to-face conversation.
Smarter sharing for increased productivity
Creating environments to support the various ways people collaborate from the office and their homes improves the employee experience. Cloud-based collaboration tools make essential information and resources accessible from any location and continue to evolve to place emphasis on productivity and cybersecurity.
- Project management. Cloud-based applications and workflow automation improve productivity and broaden project visibility among team members, making it possible to assign and track projects from any online device.
- Real-time sharing. Microsoft Teams makes it easy for team members to message, chat, join a video call, and share files instantly, also from any online device.
- Shared calendars. Personal and group calendars improve workflow and time management, enabling all team members to view schedules and coordinate team meetings and activities from a centralized calendar.
- Information technology and security. Cloud-based operating systems minimize downtime and optimize cybersecurity of systems, data, assets, and users.
Flexibility is now the norm. Rethinking the way we work isn’t just good for business — it’s good for people. Trusting relationships and employee choice are driving forces behind the future of work, and cultivating a collaborative culture is essential in a hybrid environment.
4 ways to use technology to collaborate smarter in a hybrid work environment
Equitable collaboration empowers people to be heard and feel connected to their teams — from anywhere. Consider these four ways to support smarter collaboration in a hybrid work environment as you’re building your technology toolbox:
- Empower people to be heard by coaching leaders and employees to engage online and in person with audiences during meetings, and provide training to improve presentation skills.
- Connect people to their teams with instant messaging, chat, smartphones, and videoconferencing; ensure remote employees have high-resolution screens and fast connectivity.
- Collaborate more productively by training leaders and employees to use cloud-based project management and collaboration resources to reduce meetings and email.
- Prevent burnout by enabling analytics tools such as mobile apps and calendar plug-ins to help employees and leaders with time management and scheduling.
Ready to unlock innovation in a hybrid world?
When collaboration gets smarter, people and enterprises thrive. Together with industry leaders, Lenovo delivers solutions that keep collaboration ubiquitous, equitable, and seamless — no matter where, when, or how work gets done.
Learn how to unlock innovation in a hybrid world.
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Sources
1 Logitech UK survey, "UK Attitudes to the New World of Work," 2021
2 Lenovo, "The Future of Work and Digital Transformation," 2021
3 Harvard Business Review, "Collaboration Overload is Sinking Productivity," September 2021
