There are two things that power innovation in the workplace: return on investment (ROI) and ease of adoption. As we spoke about a while back, there is a clear ROI with enterprise social collaboration tools. However, the ease of adoption can sometimes be a barrier to employee use. With video becoming one of the prominent ways to collaborate and communicate, let’s take a look at some tips that will help your staff collaborate more productively.
Tip #1: Learn your collaboration software
There are so many things you can do with collaboration software, such as IM, video chat, share an attachment, record a meeting, etc. that I highly recommend going to a products page of the software you are working with and learn the features. I can remember how awkward it was when RAMP first moved to O365 and I would “call” or “video chat” a coworker sitting right near me when all I wanted to do was send an email. That’s is when I decided it was time to take a trip to the Lync product page.
Tip #2: Live meetings are not the time to experiment
Make sure you prepare before a meeting, and know what functions you will need. For example, if you are going to screen share or send an attachment. I can’t stress the need to fight the urge to experiment with anything while having a live meeting. Here is a perfect example as to why you should not experiment during a meeting:
Tip #3: Find a quiet place to setup
No matter if you are remote or in an office, you’ll want a quiet, distraction-free zone. If you can’t find a completely quiet zone, bring headphones with you. This way you can clearly hear who is on the other end of the call. Muting your microphone while you are not speaking will keep background noise to a minimum.
Tip #4: Record and repurpose
If you have the knowledge and the technology, record your meetings! There are many benefits to playing back a video session, including:
- Accurate outcomes from a meeting
- Being able to show a co-worker what was discussed
- Repurposing material (webinars and webcasts)
- Creating training documents that can easily be stored in your company’s CMS
Technology has a way of empowering a workforce. It’s clear to see the ROI of enterprise conference software, as it cuts travel costs and provides faster access to knowledge. Ensuring your staff knows how to properly use video collaboration technologies will increase adoption.
