Maria P. had to experience this too. “This can’t be true,” thought the newly appointed Head of Communications at a large medium-sized company, looking at her latest employee survey. People in different departments gave completely different feedback on digital collaboration, knowledge levels were at different levels and the answers indicated that information could not be found and therefore jobs could not be completed. They suspected that the good mood in the teams would soon change if some of them were unable to complete their tasks. In any case, the general resentment was clear to see. This was not due to the general working atmosphere, as they traditionally set great store by working together.
Perhaps the two mergers of the last few months had left their mark here. But could that be the case? Knowledge was available with a click on the intranet or on the server and many of the employees had laptops. What was the problem?
The structure of a digital workplace
Internet users use Twitter or Facebook for their communication, information is obtained via a medium’s website, knowledge is provided by Wikipedia and chats take place via WhatsApp. Different technical solutions are used in the corporate environment, but the structure is similar: the news channel here is the company blog, information is provided by the corporate wiki and chats take place via Teams.
A digital workplace also needs all of this – and more! This is the first and perhaps most important stumbling block for companies. Because what is learned and works well online and in the corporate environment is only the technical framework for a digital workplace. Without a corresponding culture, learned processes and communicative support, technology is like a luxury car to which the key has been lost – nice to look at, but ineffective.
How digital collaboration works
Digital workplaces have many neuralgic points where friction and loss of information, energy or speed can occur. In the worst case scenario, the company suffers the damage. A good digital workplace must therefore be able to map many things. Teams must be able to work together, workflows, knowledge transfer, planning and scheduling must be guaranteed. It must provide an overview and orientation, communication and personal exchange must be possible. And despite all the technology, companies should bear in mind that “a team” is made up of people. Social interaction must also be taken into account.
To be able to map all of this, companies must take these four segments into account:
1. culture
This concerns both cultural support and the internal communication that goes hand in hand with cultural processes. It must be set up in such a way that exchange is encouraged. Critical issues should be addressed and employee feedback listened to. The aim should be to turn employees into corporate influencers who also reflect the company’s culture to the outside world. Technical solutions can only support the process if the corporate culture enables it in the first place.
2. technology
Technology is of central importance for the digital workplace, but it cannot stand alone. Every company’s circumstances and requirements are different, so there is no one tool that fits all. Companies should prioritize their requirements and equip the individual aspects along the prioritization with tools that match as closely as possible. A basic 100% solution can often only be achieved through in-house development or by customizing standard software – which is not recommended – and does not necessarily make up for the investment. The software should be solidly embedded in the IT infrastructure and the number of communication channels should be limited to those that are necessary and, above all, useful. Otherwise, there is a risk that the channels will not be used or will be used inadequately.
3rd room
Contrary to what the name suggests, the digital workplace is not a purely digital solution. Rather, it requires space that makes its function possible in the first place. This promotes motivating collaboration and takes both analog and digital workspace concepts into account. While rooms in the analog world have to meet simple requirements, such as light, location, quiet, collaboration, etc., the digital workplace must also provide the digital space. Of course, all of this applies to the company office and the home office.
4. hybrid
Hybrid meetings, events and team-building measures cannot be successful with analog or digital concepts alone – they require their own unique approach. In addition to the rooms mentioned above, the conditions for a balance between analog and digital must also be created. If, for example, there are three colleagues in a meeting in a room on site and four more in the home office, the communication of the employees on site will be different than in the home office. One of the tasks of the corporate culture is to create equality that is transparent for everyone.
If companies observe and take these four aspects into account, then teamwork also works excellently across digital workplaces – and combines the best of the analog and digital worlds.