2 January 2018

Five essential office tools for 2018

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Since the introduction of modern offices, managers and senior staff have explored many ways to inspire teamwork and to improve communication within their four walls, as well as their connection to the outside world. As technology has developed, so too have the range of possibilities that enable them to do this. Here are five essential tools to implement in your office in 2018:

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1. Games

Games offer a great occasion to bring individuals and wider teams together for little or no expense. For example, use a pub quiz format to encourage your workforce to put their heads together, offering a small prize in the form of money, vouchers, sweets or even just the title of champions! Even remote teams can get in on the action with games such as sweepstakes.

2. 1-2-1s

Conference calling can be a disaster, not to mention a waste of valuable time and money if they don’t go as planned. While it isn’t always possible to jump on a train or plane and visit remote workers, you can adopt new advanced software that makes speaking to colleagues abroad like talking to someone in the same room. Skype is a common application for offices but video phone systems are far more reliable.

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3. Brainstorm

Visuals are a very important aspect of collective team thinking, so using dry wipe whiteboards for schools and offices could be the way to go for your brainstorming meetings. With these interactive display boards, you can scribble your thoughts and ideas in a way that helps others to visualise them too (https://wedgewhiteboards.co.uk).

4. Communicate

Remaining on the subject of visuals, video content is winning when it comes to modern marketing. So, use this trend to your advantage and create video messages for your colleagues and clients to give them the personal touch. There’s always room for confusion with written communication so letting the viewer see your facial expressions and hear your tone of voice will help them to denote the message better.

5. File

With so many conversations going on in so many different parts of the business, you might find that your mailbox is like a TARDIS! Use software designed to track and categorise your communications to make life easier. This will not only cut down on time, but it will also help you to clear some file space.