The modern workplace is changing faster than you can say, “another new tool, already?!”. Teams are under pressure from all sides: management wants results yesterday, users expect magic, and in the middle of it all, we’re trying to remember where we put that important document (was it on SharePoint? Teams? Or maybe in that email with the subject “Re: Fwd: Important!”)?
Despite having access to vast amounts of information, many teams struggle to stay informed, collaborate effectively, and fully utilize all the available technology. Let’s take a closer look at the challenges they face and the strategies effective teams use to succeed.
Article written by Kjetil Riise.
The Information Problem: More Data, Less Clarity
Today, teams are inundated with information, yet they don’t feel any better informed than before. The main reasons for this are:
Increasing Competitive Pressure
- Both businesses and the public sector need to move faster than ever to keep up with competition and demands, and this often comes at the expense of structure and good routines for knowledge sharing.
- Ad hoc communication (like Teams messages, emails, or water cooler chats) leads to fragmented information.
User Expectations for Digital Experiences
- As users, we’ve all become more demanding. We want immediate help, continuous status updates, and a frictionless experience. This increases the pressure on organizations to implement new tools — often without the right expertise and with a lack of integrations. This creates information silos and duplicated efforts.
Distributed Work
- Teams spread across different locations and time zones present new challenges in knowledge sharing, and critical information gets scattered across multiple collaboration tools.
- The consequence? According to Atlassian, an estimated 2.4 billion hours annually are spent by organizations worldwide searching for information.
Key Challenges Teams Face Today
The most significant concrete challenges for individual employees and teams are:
1. Many Different Tools and Scattered Knowledge
Employees waste a lot of time searching through file directories, emails, documents, and messages to find what they need. Different teams often work on overlapping tasks and goals without knowing what other teams are doing. The consequence is duplicated efforts.
2. Over-reliance on Direct Communication
According to an Atlassian survey, 56% of employees say the only way to get information is to ask someone directly or schedule a meeting. This slows down progress and creates bottlenecks. Many managers spend a large portion of their workweek in meetings for coordination and reporting.
3. AI and Technology Not Being Utilized Well Enough
While AI has the potential to revolutionize how teams work, most aren’t yet prepared to use it effectively. This can be due to a lack of training or a lack of clarity on what it can actually be used for. 71% of all teams believe they are not fully utilizing AI for knowledge management.
How High-Performing Teams Succeed
The most successful teams use a structured approach to work that ensures collaboration, visibility, and efficiency. The following sets them apart:
1. Have Clear Common Goals
- Set 3–5 prioritized goals per team with measurable results.
- An effective method for setting and tracking these goals is to use OKR (Objectives and Key Results). OKR helps teams define inspiring goals (objectives) and then track progress with specific, measurable results (key results). By using the OKR method, teams can ensure everyone is working towards common goals and that progress is transparent.
- Document goals in a centralized system, like Atlassian Goals, so everyone understands how their work contributes to larger goals and can follow progress updates.
- Review and adjust goals regularly (preferably quarterly).
Effect: Teams working with clear common goals are 6.4 times more likely to deliver high-quality work and 4.9 times more likely to meet deadlines.
2. Plan and Follow Up on Work Together
- Start projects and tasks with a clear description of goals, stakeholders, and communication channels.
- Break down work into tasks with clear owners and identify dependencies.
- Use a common task management tool to track progress and ensure visibility. Don’t hide your plans in Excel!
Effect: Teams that plan and follow up on work together are 5.3 times more likely to deliver high-quality results.
3. Leverage Shared Knowledge with AI
- Replace information-sharing meetings with asynchronous documentation, for example, in shared meeting minutes and whiteboards/canvases in Confluence. Test tools for adding short video clips directly into the tool and AI-generated meeting minutes.
- Use AI to find insights from a shared knowledge base.
- Encourage teams to consult AI before scheduling meetings or asking colleagues.
Effect: Teams that use AI effectively are 5.4 times more likely to deliver high-quality work.
4. Invest in Team Coaching
To accelerate team development and improve team performance, it can be helpful to invest in team coaching. A team coach can help the team improve communication, resolve conflicts, strengthen collaboration, create effective processes and meetings, and develop common goals. Coaching can also help the team reflect on their performance, learn from their mistakes, and continuously improve.
AI coaching can also help teams better utilize AI by guiding them in developing good instructions and using automated agents to execute steps in work processes.
The Future for Teams
The future belongs to teams that:
- Make knowledge transparent and centralized to avoid silos.
- Prioritize asynchronous collaboration to reduce reliance on meetings.
- Create a plan and conduct practical testing of AI in various areas to translate information into action.
By using these strategies, you can cut through the noise, work more efficiently, and focus on what truly matters—delivering meaningful results.
Do you want to strengthen your team’s collaboration? At Computas Opus, we have specialists in agile work methods and tools. Contact us for a no-obligation chat about how we can help your team!
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