Modern employees are adept at finding ways to work together. Whether it’s thrashing out ideas in a meeting room, or more likely in recent months, working in the same Google doc, there are a huge number of tasks which benefit from collaboration.
But what happens to all the great ideas flying around in those brainstorming sessions? And where on earth do those Google docs end up? It’s very common to lose track of collaborative work, as it’s not always “owned” by one particular person, and so the conversation starts and ends in one lone session.
What if there was a better way to collaborate on projects, track outcomes and welcome input from across the team? That’s where collaborative workspaces come in.
What is a collaborative workspace?
Totara Engage, a user-friendly learning experience platform (LXP), allows organizations to create their own collaborative workspaces. These are areas in the platform where teams, job functions, project teams, locations or those with specific interests or skills can gather online to discuss ideas, share knowledge and work together on projects.
Members of workspaces can share links to useful resources and learning, ask questions, solicit feedback and post polls. Their colleagues can then “like,” or upvote, posts, add comments and contribute to discussions. This helps pull learning into the flow of work, and weaves it into learners’ day-to-day routines.
What are the benefits of collaborative workspaces?
The main benefit of a collaborative workspace is that it provides a secure space where everyone can have an equal say. In-person meetings tend to be dominated by the same few voices, but moving the conversation into an online space ensures that everyone’s voice is heard.
Another benefit is that it creates a permanent record of all the great ideas, solutions and conversations taking place in your teams. This way, everyone can revisit discussions for clarification or easily find recommended learning content. These workspaces also support geographically dispersed, global teams, as asynchronous conversations take place across time zones to get everyone’s input.
When should you use a collaborative workspace?
There is a huge amount of flexibility with collaborative workspaces. Some of the ways in which you might use them include:
- Brainstorming sessions – lots of people don’t work well “out loud,” and would benefit from the time and space to think before sharing their ideas with the team
- Coming up with creative solutions – not all workplace solutions will require a quick, straightforward solution. A workspace gives people the space to post ideas, respond to coworkers and build on ideas together
- Sharing inspiration – employees can post links, videos, resources and more to provide examples of best practice and interesting ideas, which may be valuable before or after a meeting where ideas are being solicited
- Recommending learning – collecting links to useful learning, whether that’s an e-learning course in the LMS, a checklist or a video, ensures that a collection of useful resources grows over time and can be easily accessed in the future
How might a collaborative workspace work in practice?
Let’s take a look at an example of a collaborative workspace in action.
The sales team at an organization has a meeting scheduled to discuss ways to improve the success rate of sales pitches. A few days before the meeting, Ingrid, a top-performing salesperson, shares a link to a video she found in the LMS that helped her improve her presentation skills. Her colleagues, Yoanna and Olaf, “like” and comment on Ingrid’s post to thank her for the recommendation, and to share links to resources they have also found useful.
In the meeting, Yoanna shares that she has watched the video Ingrid shared and found it useful. Another salesperson, George, expresses an interest in the video. After the meeting, Yoanna tags George in the post in the workspace. George then “likes” Ingrid’s post, which helps other users identify Ingrid’s post as particularly valuable, ensuring that everyone benefits from this useful resource.
