How to Unlock Better Teamwork with Wrike‘s Collaboration Software

Hey there! Managing projects with remote teams can be tricky. But the right work management platform makes all the difference.

I want to share how Wrike collaboration software can help your distributed teams communicate better, meet deadlines, and deliver results. With the right setup, Wrike takes teamwork to the next level.

Now, collaborating across distances has its challenges. Let‘s look at what causes remote teams to struggle. Then, we‘ll see how Wrike solves these problems through its robust features. I‘ll also explain how to launch Wrike the right way in your organization step-by-step.

By the end, you‘ll have a plan to transform scattered teams into a collaborative dream team with Wrike!

Why Remote Collaboration is Hard…But Doesn‘t Have to Be

Distributed teams let you build amazing projects with the best talent worldwide. But infrequent in-person interactions can really impede teamwork.

In my experience managing remote teams, these are the biggest obstacles to collaboration:

1. Communication Breakdowns

Without chatting face-to-face daily, important information fails to get shared. Details get lost across locations leading to misunderstandings.

A study by Economist Impact found 44% of remote workers feel communication issues obstruct productivity. Without seeing body language and facial cues, messages can be misinterpreted.

2. Lack of Alignment

When working separately, your team may lose focus on company goals. With limited touchpoints, priorities can become fragmented.

Per Gallup research, just 32% of employees strongly agree their team‘s priorities are clear. Unaligned objectives cause tension between coworkers too.

3. Delayed Decisions

Waiting for responses over email drags out decision-making. Finding meeting times across timezones makes quick choices impossible.

An Atlassian survey found 66% of remote workers struggle with slow feedback and approvals. Drawn-out decisions stall projects and sap morale.

4. Low Visibility

Managers have limited insight into work progress when not co-located. Without transparency, it‘s impossible to detect delays orblockers.

Per a recent survey, 76% of managers admit to having transparency issues with remote employees. Lack of visibility impedes their ability to course correct.

5. Weak Accountability

With less oversight, some team members may let work slip through the cracks. Without accountability, deadlines are missed and projects lag.

In one study, 35% of remote workers reported being distracted at work over 5 hours per day. No one likes to micromanage, but some structure is crucial.

6. Disconnected Relationships

Building trusted relationships is tougher remotely. Without knowing your teammates personally, collaboration suffers.

A recent Glassdoor survey found 1 in 5 employees believe lack of face-to-face time hinders relationships with co-workers. Weak connections inhibit team success.

Juggling these obstacles day to day is frustrating, right? But work management software like Wrike provides solutions to each of these collaboration blockers.

Wrike Enables Seamless Remote Teamwork

Wrike is a cloud-based platform that centralizes work so global teams can plan, manage, and track projects in one place. Think of Wrike as a digital headquarters for your distributed teams.

With robust features purpose-built for remote teams, Wrike breaks down the barriers to teamwork across distances.

Never Miss Important Updates

Wrike‘s real-time activity feed keeps everyone up to speed. Comments, mentions, and chat in tasks ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

Email notifications can also be tailored by projects or custom rules so teammates get relevant alerts without inbox overload. No more missed messages!

Maintain Visibility

Managers gain clear visibility into workloads and productivity with Wrike. Interactive dashboards roll up task progress, reports, and charts in one view.

Workload balancing gives an accurate picture of capacity so assignments stay realistic. Wrike makes it easy to identify bottlenecks instantly.

Align Priorities

Have a distributed team zigging and zagging in different directions? With Wrike, you define workflows that keep them aligned.

Project templates, assigned roles, and automated rules streamline processes. Teams coordinate seamlessly when structured the right way.

Shorten Feedback Loops

Waiting on feedback and approvals? With Wrike, you can configure automatic status changes so work progresses faster.

Collaborative proofing centralizes discussions in one place to accelerate reviews. Wrike shortens feedback cycles so decisions happen in real time.

Maintain Accountability

Wrike clarifies who owns what by assigning work and due dates at a granular level. Once it‘s assigned, you can trust it will get done.

Time tracking integrations calculate capacity accurately. Custom reminders ensure your team meets its commitments and deadlines.

Foster Stronger Relationships

Even working remotely, teams bond when using Wrike. Profiles, chat, GIF reactions, and virtual high fives add personality.

Recognizing achievements, whether big or small, brings the team together. Shared goals and wins, even from afar, build trusted relationships.

With solutions that meet each remote collaboration challenge, Wrike empowers teams to work together in new ways.

How Wrike Stacks Up to Popular Alternatives

Wrike isn‘t the only work management platform out there. Top competitors include Asana, Trello, Teamwork, and monday.com. How does Wrike compare?

Ease of Use

Wrike and Asana both offer very intuitive interfaces. Trello‘s kanban-style boards have a learning curve. monday.com is more customizable but complex.

Features

Wrike provides the deepest feature set of the bunch. Asana and monday.com are close seconds. Trello lacks robust reporting and permissions.

Scalability

Wrike and monday.com are built to scale to large, enterprise deployments. Asana and Trello have smaller sweet spots.

Integrations

With over 400 app integrations, Wrike comes out ahead here. Trello also connects broadly. Asana and monday.com integrate with popular tools.

Customization

monday.com takes the lead for ease of customization. Wrike also allows extensive configuration and branding. Asana and Trello offer more lightweight personalization.

Pricing

Asana and Trello have free tiers for simple use cases. Wrike and monday.com provide paid-only enterprise plans with premium capabilities.

Across key criteria like features, scalability, and customization, Wrike emerges as the most robust platform for complex team collaborations.

Getting Started: A Four-Step Wrike Launch Plan

Once you‘re ready to kick-off Wrike in your organization, follow this launch plan for guaranteed success:

Step 1: Strategically Rollout Wrike

Don‘t bite off more than you can chew. Start with a pilot group to work out kinks before expanding to other teams.

Identify Wrike champions across business units to drive adoption. Slowly transition additional projects based on pilot feedback.

Tailor your rollout schedule and support strategy to smooth the transition. Rome wasn‘t built in a day, and neither is a Wrike implementation!

Step 2: Structure Projects Thoughtfully

Determine how to best organize work in Wrike for your workflows. Use folders to group projects and tasks.

Standardize naming conventions and statuses from the start. Establish templates to enable consistency across projects over time.

A little structure goes a long way when collaborating with remote teammates in Wrike.

Step 3: Configure Work Processes

Model processes in Wrike to match cross-functional needs. Set automated rules to standardize hand-offs and approvals.

Determine the right states, assignees, and sequence for each workflow. Configuring processes reduces errors and confusion.

Step 4: Train Your Team Thoroughly

Well-trained teams collaborate seamlessly from day one. Provide hands-on onboarding for each group‘s role-based needs.

Share quick reference guides, cheat sheets, and video tutorials for ongoing reinforcement. Enable power users to provide peer support.

With the right phased rollout, setup, training, and support, your teams will become Wrike experts in no time!

Advanced Features That Take Teamwork to the Next Level

Beyond core features, Wrike offers next-level capabilities to help global teams excel:

Gantt Chart Timelines

Visually map out projects plans and task dependencies using interactive Gantt charts. Adjust schedules and sequences with a click.

Custom Dashboards

Build fully customizable dashboards to surface real-time metrics most important for each manager. Keep a pulse on team progress.

Interactive Boards

Kanban-style boards provide flexibility to arrange and prioritize tasks. Move work through statuses for agile collaboration.

Automatic Workload Balancing

Optimize assignments across teams and locations based on capacity. Balance workloads to avoid bottlenecks.

Advanced Access Controls

Manage access at a granular level based on roles, projects, and object types. Lock down data securely without limiting collaboration.

Portfolio Management

Make strategic decisions across programs and portfolios. Align projects company-wide through top-down visibility.

Business Intelligence

Gain data-driven insights with 150+ report templates. Identify trends and patterns to improve team performance over time.

With robust features that scale from task management up to portfolio planning, Wrike powers next-level teamwork.

Driving User Adoption for Maximum Impact

Implementing new technology is just the first step. To truly transform teamwork, you need full adoption across your organization.

Based on my experience, here are some proven tactics to boost Wrike user activation:

Secure Executive Buy-In

Involve business leaders early to become Wrike advocates. Employees follow the tone set from the top.

Incentivize Usage

Drive friendly competition through public leaderboards and rewards programs tied to Wrike adoption. A little motivation goes a long way!

Highlight Business Impact

Share case studies and success stories detailing Wrike‘s benefits. Put faces to the business results it drives.

Address Pain Points Head On

Solicit user feedback to uncover frustrations before they boil over. Fix issues fast to prevent abandonment.

Offer Embedded Assistance

Reduce learning curves with in-app guided tours, tips, and contextual help. Enable power users to provide peer support.

Develop a Community

Create a social community for sharing expertise between users. Community builds skills and relationships.

With the right signals from leadership, change management, and engagement strategies, you‘ll maximize results from your Wrike investment.

By the Numbers: Wrike Usage and Adoption Statistics

Still not sure Wrike can make an impact in your organization? The numbers speak for themselves:

• 75% of teams report increased productivity after adopting Wrike, per a survey by TechValidate

• Wrike customers see 50% faster time-to-market for new products with improved team collaboration

• 27% higher project profitability is achieved by organizations using Wrike versus those who don‘t

• Teams experience 62% less burnout when using Wrike to improve work management

• Employee engagement scores average 15% higher among regular Wrike users

• 92% of users say Wrike helps them manage their time better

With boosted productivity, faster delivery, higher profits, and improved employee engagement, Wrike provides measurable business results.

On average, over 90% of employees at an organization actively use Wrike once implemented company-wide. The platform drives some of the highest adoption rates in its industry.

Don‘t just take my word for it – the data proves Wrike supercharges teamwork!

Key Takeaways to Improve Remote Teamwork with Wrike

Let‘s recap the key points on how Wrike streamlines collaboration:

• Wrike provides robust solutions to top remote work challenges – from communication gaps to weak relationships.

• Advanced features like interactive dashboards, custom rules, and Gantt charts take teamwork to the next level.

• With the right phased rollout plan and training, adoption of Wrike can be smooth and successful.

• Tactics like leadership advocacy, friendly competition, and community building boost user activation.

• Data shows improved productivity, time-to-market, and employee engagement from Wrike.

Remote work is here to stay. With the rise of dispersed teams, platforms like Wrike are critical for keeping everyone aligned.

By implementing Wrike project management software, you can overcome distance to build a collaborative culture that drives results.

I hope these tips help you unlock the full potential of your distributed teams. Reach out if you need any advice bringing Wrike‘s powerful collaboration capabilities to your organization. I‘m always happy to help!