Leadership and Team Collaboration: 6 Tips to Lead the Way

Employee experience (EX) is how your organization makes workers feel at every stage of the employee journey. EX impacts employee engagement, employee productivity, and retention — which means that building a consistently positive employee experience makes a big difference to your business.

Positive EX is particularly important for frontline employees. These people are the face of your organization. The frontline experience directly affects product quality and customer satisfaction.

But the frontline employee experience is falling short: 

• A recent Quinyx report found that 1 in 2 frontline workers have thought about quitting their jobs in the past year due to low pay, stress, and irregular working hours. 
• O.C. Tanner research reveals that 2 in 5 frontline employees say they’re viewed as inferior by employees in the office, and more than a third say their work is not valued as highly as office work.  
• Frontline employees are hard to reach. Working in isolation, away from HQ, they often feel disconnected from company culture and comms — and don’t get access to the same tech tools as their desk-based peers. 

The demands of shift work. A sense of inequality. A feeling of disconnection. There are lots of barriers getting in the way of a positive frontline employee experience. To overcome these barriers, you need a targeted approach that keeps frontline needs front of mind. 

The good news is that there are actionable steps you can begin taking today to create a positive employee experience across your frontline — ultimately helping your organization boost employee engagement, productivity, and retention. 

8 steps to building a positive employee experience for your frontline workforce

To create a positive employee experience for frontline workers, consider these eight areas of opportunity:

• Develop an employee experience strategy
• Create a positive company culture
• Give employees development and growth opportunities
• Establish effective communication channels
• Recognize employee achievements
• Improve the physical and digital work environment
• Hone onboarding and offboarding 
• Ask for employee feedback

Let’s take a closer look at each of these actions. 

Step 1: Develop an employee experience strategy

Gallup looked at companies with a strong workplace culture to find out what they had in common. They found that companies with the best culture were committed to developing a positive employee experience across the whole employee life cycle.

In the most successful organizations, employee experience and employee engagement sit at the center of company strategy, informing how they hire, onboard, and develop talent. It also informs how they motivate their teams, set goals, and communicate to their employees.

Achieving this holistic approach is easier when you have a thoughtfully crafted employee experience strategy — one that tackles all five stages of the employee lifecycle:

• Attraction
• Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Development
• Separation

To create a strategy suited to each of these employee journey stages, use employee feedback to help you uncover weaknesses at each stage. You can then set EX goals that align with organizational goals — and develop initiatives that will help you achieve them. 

Step 2: Create a more positive company culture

A positive company culture supports a positive employee experience. So what can you do to improve the culture within your organization?

Define core values and incorporate them into the workplace

When you get clear on your company’s core values, you unite employees behind one definitive version of company culture and establish how people should work together and the goals you’re all working towards.

Once you’ve defined your values, think about how you’ll express them across every stage of your employee journey. Also, weave them into your internal communications regularly to reinforce their importance.

Foster a supportive and inclusive environment

Employees who feel that they belong at an organization are 5.3 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. So to build a positive and productive workplace culture, you need to ensure that everyone feels supported and included.

That might mean taking an in-depth look at your diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and how they are lived across the employee journey. It might mean working to create a culture of psychological safety and open communication, where everyone feels able to share their ideas and concerns.

For frontline teams, it could mean ensuring employees get opportunities to build relationships with co-workers — and that they get access to the same tools and resources as their desk-based peers.

Promote wellbeing and work-life balance

Another characteristic of strong and resilient workplace cultures is an emphasis on wellbeing in work and in life. Companies that show concern for the holistic wellbeing of employees — caring about them as people, not just workers — are more likely to create a more engaging employee experience.

Gym memberships, mental health support, financial planning, and volunteer days can all improve the physical and mental wellbeing of employees. For many employees, work-life balance is another key factor — and there are various strategies you can use to bring flexibility to frontline work. 

You can share frontline worker shifts at least two weeks in advance, giving them more time to plan their out-of-work lives. You can give them access to shift-swapping tools so they can exchange shifts with co-workers without manager involvement.

Or follow the example of the Principality Building Society, which made the decision to shut their branches half an hour before the end of retail employee shifts. This allows employees to finish tasks and leave on time, without having to serve customers for those last minutes of the day.  

Step 3: Give employees development and growth opportunities

Frontline workers are often overlooked when it comes to training and career progression. McKinsey research shows that 65% of frontline workers are unaware or unsure of how to achieve advancement. Only 32% say that they receive education or training in the workplace.

But training and development can have a big impact on the employee experience. McKinsey also revealed that frontline employees rank job growth or promotion above pay and benefits. In fact, it’s their top priority in the workplace.  

Make it easy for frontline employees to access development resources by choosing training programs that can be accessed via mobile devices. Micro-learning features are also a good idea, allowing employees to complete short lessons, fitting learning around their busy schedules.

Communication is key, too. The connection between a frontline role and opportunities elsewhere in the organization isn’t always clear. Managers need to make employees aware — very early in the employee journey — of the career progression options available to them.

Step 4: Establish effective communication channels

Good internal communication is the foundation of employee engagement and any successful employee experience strategy. But frontline employees are more likely to miss out on vital and culture-building communications if they’re put on a noticeboard or sent via email.

Frontline workers need communication channels that they can access on the go, on their smartphones. They need streamlined channels, so they know exactly where to find the information they’re looking for. To ensure engagement, they should also only receive content that is relevant to them.

Communication channels should allow frontline workers to connect with co-workers, too. The 32,000 frontline care workers at Elara Caring, working alone in clients’ homes, often felt isolated and lonely. This harmed employee satisfaction.

Now, with the help of Blink, the team can communicate easily over a dedicated company app. This means more knowledge sharing, stronger co-worker relationships, and a more positive employee experience.

Step 5: Recognize employee achievements

Employees experience more job satisfaction when they receive recognition from managers and peers. The act of giving recognition is also good for staff morale.

You can recognize an employee on their birthday or a work anniversary. You can highlight project success or how an employee has demonstrated company values.

But giving rewards and recognition to frontline workers requires more intention: Because frontline employees don’t work in the office, there’s less opportunity for informal thanks.

This is where digital recognition tools can help. By sharing praise and rewards on your digital communication channels, you make recognition a more visible part of company culture — even for your frontline. So you get to boost employee productivity, motivation, and satisfaction across the board.

Step 6: Improve the physical and digital work environment

Design a safe and comfortable workplace

The physical work environment has a big impact on employee wellbeing and productivity. You need to ensure the workplace is safe and comfortable and doesn’t put undue physical strain on your workers.

To improve frontline workplace safety and comfort, you should:

• Provide the necessary personal protective equipment
• Conduct regular mandatory training so everyone knows safety protocols
• Provide channels where employees can communicate safety concerns quickly 
• Run regular safety audits

A well-designed work environment prevents accidents and injuries, reduces stress, and improves job satisfaction. 

Use tools to streamline processes and improve efficiency

Only 10% of frontline workers say they have high access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace. But the digital employee experience is crucial to your overall EX.

Give employees too many tools — or tools that add friction to their workday — and you risk creating frustration and disengagement. Avoid using any tech tools and you’re left with inefficient paper processes. Either way, you end up harming employee satisfaction.  

When choosing tools for a frontline workforce, look for:

• Mobile-first tools, that don’t require a company email address and are available on employee smartphones
• A tool that brings all company software into one hub, so employees don’t have to remember lots of logins and passwords

The best employee apps are built with the frontline in mind. They’re intuitive to use and offer a host of useful features. They allow workers to chat with co-workers, get company updates, select their benefits, view pay slips, complete the onboarding process, and sign up for shifts — all via their mobile device.

Step 7: Hone onboarding and offboarding

To build a better employee experience for your frontline, you need to consider every stage of the employee journey:

Craft an effective onboarding process for new employees

Onboarding is a process that should start before an employee’s first day at your organization and last for at least three months. It should incorporate regular recognition and two-way feedback, along with goal setting, team building, and skills development.

For frontline employees, it makes sense to make onboarding resources available via smartphone. That way, they can read FAQs, complete mandatory training, and learn about company policies at a time and place that suits them.

Conduct exit interviews

Exit interviews are another integral part of any employee experience strategy.

First, because when you treat employees fairly and positively even as they leave your organization, you show other employees that you value the person, not just the worker.

Second, because exit interviews can reveal areas for employee experience improvement. Whether it’s progression opportunities, pay and benefits, company culture, or internal communication, finding out what prompted an employee to leave can give you lots of food for thought.

Step 8: Ask for employee feedback        

Offboarding feedback is important. But don’t wait until employees are leaving your organization to ask what they think of their employee experience. Schedule regular employee surveys to get feedback and learn t how they think and feel about your organization.

Use employee surveys

You can use quarterly employee experience surveys to assess employee sentiment. By asking the same employee survey questions every quarter, you can benchmark your performance and see which of your employee experience initiatives are making the most difference. You can then update goals in your employee experience strategy.

You can also use pulse surveys to get a snapshot of your employee experience at any given moment. This helps to ensure any employee experience issues are identified and dealt with promptly.

For either type of survey, be sure to ask demographic questions. These allow you to segment survey responses by employee journey stage, department, or team — revealing more detailed insights without compromising employee anonymity.

Follow survey best practices

To get the most from your employee surveys, follow survey best practices by:

• Allowing employees to respond to surveys anonymously. That way, you get honest and valuable answers.
• Sending employee surveys in a format that’s accessible to everyone. Mobile-first survey software ensures every member of staff — whether they’re working in the office, at home, or on the frontline of your organization — gets to give their opinion.
• Developing a survey communication strategy. Keep employees in the loop, thanking them for their feedback and clearly communicating how you plan to act upon it. This ensures ongoing engagement with the feedback process.

The role of technology in the frontline employee experience

The digital employee experience is a big part of the employee experience. But it’s particularly important for frontline workers who don’t spend their days at a desk.

With the right technology, you connect everyone — including hard-to-reach frontline employees — to internal communication, co-workers, and vital workplace resources. This helps improve EX, boosting employee productivity and retention in the process.

Many workplace tech tools are designed for office staff. They work beautifully for your team at HQ. But don’t provide the same features and level of functionality for your frontline workers.

To prevent tech from widening the gap between the frontline and desk-based worker experience, you need tech tools and employee experience software with the following features:

• An easy-to-use, intuitive interface with a minimal learning curve
• A mobile-first design, so all features are accessible via an employee’s smartphone
• Single sign-on security, so employees can log into all workplace software with one set of login details
• No email required — some frontline workers don’t have a company email address so it’s important that workplace tech works without them

Blink’s employee app ticks all these boxes and more.

It provides a news feed, group chat, and 1:1 messaging for easy communication. It gives managers EX-boosting tools, like recognition and employee surveys. Blink also integrates with other workplace tech, creating a one-stop shop for your frontline team.  

But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what Lorna Murphy, Operations and HR Manager at transit company Abellio had to say about the Blink experience:

“Using Blink, Abellio bus drivers can access a system of simple pathways that makes it easy for them to report issues, start a conversation with management or colleagues, or go about their day-to-day tasks such as checking shifts and accessing payslips, reconnecting them back to the organization they work for via one simple, easy-to-use app.”

Use Blink to create a positive employee experience across your frontline. Schedule your personalized demo today.

Teamwork makes the dream work — it really does. 

Teamwork in the workplace is good for productivity and employee engagement. It boosts an organization’s ability to solve problems, make decisions, and come up with innovative ideas.

It’s also something your workforce is craving, with 39% of employees saying their organization doesn’t collaborate enough.

So if you feel your employees are working alongside each other — rather than really working together — it’s time to take action.

This guide covers 27 practical teamwork strategies — from the fundamentals of team collaboration to the importance of good internal comms to the specific challenges of managing teamwork within a dispersed frontline workforce.

Whether you’re dealing with a specific friction point or are simply wondering how to improve teamwork across your company, there’s a starting point here.

27 innovative ideas to improve team performance

Improve teamwork in the workplace with these actionable teamwork strategies.

1. Keep employees in the loop

It’s easier for people to work together when everyone’s on the same page. When updates are hard to find — or fail to reach every employee — collaboration takes a hit.

Effective team communication means targeted and timely updates that reach every team member — including those without a desk or corporate email. Because when people know what’s happening, they can contribute.

Blink’s news feed puts company updates, team announcements, and operational information directly into every employee’s pocket — in real time, on the device they’re already using.

2. Clarify roles and ownership

Ambiguity is one of the most common causes of team friction.

When people aren’t clear on what they’re responsible for — or where their role ends and someone else’s begins — you get duplicated effort, missed handoffs, and (worst case scenario) simmering resentment.

When planning teamwork projects, team leaders should define the scope of each role from the start. Once roles are established, you can bring the team together to map skills, create project workflows, and agree on timelines.

By setting expectations early in the process, team members can work to their strengths and keep projects on track.   

3. Ensure teams have the resources they need

Next on our list of teamwork tips, we’re talking resources. Because teams can’t perform without the right information, tools, and support.

That sounds obvious. But in practice, frontline workers routinely report not having access to the policies, procedures, and guidance they need to do their jobs well.

A centralized, mobile-accessible knowledge hub — searchable and always up to date — gives employees the info they need without having to ask a manager or wait for a co-worker response.

4. Build a culture of psychological safety

Teamwork only works when people feel they can speak openly. Share an idea without it being dismissed. Flag a problem without it being treated as a complaint. Disagree without damaging a relationship.

Psychological safety is a core driver of team performance. Teams where people feel safe to speak up, challenge assumptions, and admit uncertainty make better decisions and solve problems faster.

Building this kind of culture requires a company-wide commitment to open communication. It also requires the right communication channels.

Employees should have an easy way to contribute, ask questions, raise concerns, and get a speedy response — whether they work in the office, remotely, or on the frontlines of your organization. 

5. Lead from the top

Leaders play a pivotal role in encouraging teamwork in the workplace. When leaders model collaborative behaviours, the workforce is more likely to follow suit.  

That means defining objectives clearly, treating people fairly, and showing up authentically in regular, informal moments.

Leaders who are present and visible help to create the culture of open communication and psychological safety in which collaboration thrives. But when leaders are remote — physically or emotionally — you’re more likely to get teams defaulting to self-interest.

Read more: Leadership and team collaboration: 6 tips to lead the way.

6. Get clear on organizational purpose

Want to inspire and motivate your teams? Then every employee should understand what the organization is trying to achieve — and how their work contributes to that goal.

Without that clarity, team members optimize for their own local goals rather than shared ones, and collaboration across functions becomes a negotiation rather than a partnership.

A clearly defined purpose shapes decision-making, aligns priorities, and gives employees a reason to care about outcomes beyond their immediate to-do list.

If you feel your teams are lacking direction, start by clarifying your company mission. Then regularly reference it across internal communication channels.

7. Get new hires into a collaborative mind-set from day one

The habits employees form in their first few weeks in a workplace tend to stick. So an onboarding program that introduces new team members to collaboration tools, communication norms, and team culture helps set the scene for effective team working.

During the onboarding process, you should also connect new hires with their teammates early. You’ll help them build the strong team relationships that form the foundation of collaboration.

8. Set team KPIs

If you want to improve team performance, clarifying some team KPIs can help. Rather than just setting goals for individuals, define objectives on a team-by-team basis.

Maybe you want to improve near-miss reporting. Or your on-time project completion rate. Or the number of support tickets your team gets through.

Whatever you’re looking to achieve, work with your team to establish realistic, specific, and measurable goals that the whole team can take responsibility for.

9. Establish team processes

Teams work better together when they understand, not just organizational culture, but the culture of the team they belong to.

To achieve this, managers can work with employees to establish team processes — the guidelines the team lives by.

That might mean always letting other project members know the status of your work in a daily huddle. Or speaking up if you see a problem that could impact team success.

When people are clear on the team-building behaviours that are expected, they’re more likely to demonstrate them.

10. Implement the right communication tools

The internal communication tools your teams use have a direct impact on how well they collaborate.

Fragmented tools — separate platforms for messaging, file sharing, scheduling, and updates — create friction. Decision-making slows down. Context is lost. Employees end up feeling frustrated.

Look for tools that are searchable (so messages don’t get lost in long threads), consolidated (so employees aren’t switching between multiple apps), and capable of supporting both real-time and asynchronous communication.

The best team communication tools for deskless teams are also mobile-first — they work as well on smartphones as they do on a desktop computer. This makes it easy to receive and respond to team messages, even when employees aren’t sitting at a desk.

11. Let teams communicate on their own terms

You provide the comms infrastructure. But then employees should be free to use those tools in the way that best suits the team communication style and the task at hand.

Voice calling, voice notes, video calls, real-time messaging, face-to-face meetings — depending on what the team is trying to achieve, different communication methods may be more or less relevant.

An employee communication app, like Blink, allows for various forms of communication within one user-friendly platform.

12. Run team-building activities

Team-building sessions get a bad rap. Often, because they’re done badly — they can feel forced, awkward, and disconnected from real work.

But done well, they’re an effective way to build trust and insight, and for team members to get to know one another better.

The key is choosing activities that reflect how the team actually works, involve genuine challenge and problem-solving, and create a shared experience people want to talk about afterward.

And don’t forget dispersed or remote team members. If you can’t physically get employees together, online team-building activities are the next best thing.

Read more: Why team building is so important.

13. Avoid micro-managing

Teams that are constantly waiting for top-down approval struggle to get into their stride. Micromanagement stifles their creativity, lowers morale, and makes it hard to build trust.

If you don't give your teams some degree of autonomy, they won't work as a collective because they'll always be waiting for the go-ahead from management. As much as possible, let teams set deadlines, develop workflows, and solve problems independently.

The role of management is to set clear expectations and remove blockers, not to stage manage every step of the process.

14. Offer training

Not everyone is a natural collaborator. But team-working skills can be taught. 

Empathy, active listening, open communication, constructive feedback, dispute resolution — these are all learnable skills.

Training doesn’t have to be part of a formal or lengthy program. Manager-led workshops, peer coaching, and microlearning modules can help you build a more collaborative workplace culture.

15. Boost employee engagement

This is a big one. But when employees aren’t engaged in their roles or with your organization, they’re unlikely to make good teammates.

They’re probably putting in the minimum effort, spreading negativity, and are reluctant to contribute to company goals. 

Wondering whether your employees are engaged? Start by learning the drivers of employee engagement. Then, measure engagement rates at your organization.

If you find that employee engagement is below industry benchmarks or has fallen since your last employee engagement survey, you need to take action before team dynamics suffer.    

Take a look at these 67 employee engagement ideas for inspiration.

16. Mediate disputes early

Interpersonal conflicts are tricky to handle. But ignore the problem and leave it to resolve itself, and the issue usually lingers.

This can result in gatekeeping, slower decision-making, and — if the conflict persists long enough — the resignation of good team members.  

Managers can support teamwork in the workplace with a proactive approach to dispute resolution. That means addressing friction as soon as it’s visible, not waiting for it to become a formal complaint.

Ensure managers are equipped to have difficult conversations early. And create a culture where raising an interpersonal issue isn’t seen as weakness or escalation, but as the responsible thing to do.

17. Use collaboration tools

Wondering how to improve teamwork when your employees are working remotely or in different locations? Digital collaboration tools can help.

Shared dashboards make project progress visible. They show task status and ownership — and they reduce the coordination overhead that can consume a significant portion of team time.

When everyone can see what everyone else is working on, you need fewer status update meetings. Blockers get identified earlier. Handoffs happen more smoothly. And employees spend more time doing the work, rather than managing the process.

18. Recognize good teamwork visibly

Recognizing great teamwork explicitly — calling out the team, not just the outcome — incentivizes employees to work well together, not just to produce results individually.

But — to have the greatest impact on company culture and collaboration — this recognition has to be visible to the organization and fairly distributed.

Employee engagement statistics show that nearly 4 in 10 frontline workers (39%) don’t feel their work is valued as highly as office work. It seems that deskless workers are being left out of the recognition loop.

So ensure praise is shared on channels all employees can use. Blink’s employee app comes with built-in recognition tools, so all employees can receive and share appreciation via their smartphones.

19. Ask for feedback

If you want to know how your teams are really doing, ask them. Not once a year. But regularly, in formats that don’t require significant time or effort to complete.

Use employee surveys to ask them what processes and tools would support collaboration more effectively — and whether any of your current systems are acting as blockers.

Ask them whether they have the information they need to work effectively as a team. If they feel comfortable speaking up and offering opinions. If they feel supported by their teammates. If they have a clear understanding of their role within the team.

The answers employees give will inform your interventions.

20. Launch quick-fire polls

You don’t have to wait for a quarterly or post-project survey to get a sense of how team members are feeling.

Short, in-the-moment polls — What worked well this week? What’s causing friction? What do you need more of? — give managers real-time insight.

For remote or frontline employees, ask these questions over digital tools to give everyone a quick and easy way to provide input.

21. Create a mentor program

Assign employees a mentor, and they’ll integrate faster, build skills more quickly, and develop a clearer sense of how the organization works. You support employees to build relationships across the company, which supports cohesiveness and collaboration.

Mentoring programs don’t have to be complex. A schedule, a few suggested conversation prompts, and a communication channel through which mentors and mentees can stay in touch are often all that’s needed.

22. Break down silos between teams

High-performing organizations don’t just have high-performing teams — they have teams that collaborate across functional boundaries.

But this is only possible when you break down the silos that exist between teams. And this takes an intentional approach.

Use your internal communication channels to highlight the work of different departments. Celebrate cross-functional project successes. Create shared spaces where employees from different teams can connect around common interests or challenges.

The more visibility employees have into what colleagues in other parts of the organization are working on, the more naturally cross-functional collaboration develops.

23. Manage workload balance

When people are stretched too thin, teamwork suffers. It’s hard to support a colleague when you’re already feeling the strain — and the instinct in those situations is to protect your own work rather than contribute to someone else’s. 

Managers can enable supportive teamwork by watching for signs of burnout: declining engagement, rising absenteeism, shorter and less collaborative communication.  

They should also redistribute work when the load feels uneven — and build buffer time into projects so employees aren’t always working at capacity.

Teams that have sustainable workloads collaborate more effectively — because they have the mental space to think about more than just getting through their own to-do list.

24. Use analytics to track teamwork

Employee engagement surveys and manager perspectives are useful in understanding the state of teamwork in your organization. But you can also use software analytics to add another layer of insight.

A good internal communication platform provides answers to a range of questions. 

Which teams communicate most? Which voices are fading into the background? Where is cross-functional collaboration taking place? Which communication channels are used most and least?

With Blink's analytics, you can visualize the people and relationships that make your organization tick. You can spot and address communication pain points before they have too big an impact on teamwork and collaboration.

25. Create a joined-up software ecosystem

Fragmented tools are another collaboration blocker.

When employees have to manually transfer information between systems, check multiple platforms for updates, or work from different versions of the same document, teamwork becomes harder than it needs to be.

Take a good look at your software ecosystem. Do your tools talk to one another? Can you find scheduling, communication, HR, operational, and project management data in one accessible place?

If not, you can improve teamwork in the workplace by auditing your tech stack. Seek out consolidated tools and platforms that offer deep integrations with all the workplace software you use.

That way, teams spend less time navigating systems and more time working together productively.

26. Optimize your people directory

One of the simplest improvements you can make to team collaboration? Make it easy for employees to find each other.

A well-maintained people directory — with profiles that include role, team, skills, interests, and contact information — removes the friction of figuring out who to contact for what.

Encourage employees to complete and maintain their profiles. The result is a searchable network of colleagues that makes cross-team collaboration faster and more natural, and helps new starters build relationships beyond their immediate team right from the start.

27. Make teamwork fun

Let’s finish with one of our favorite teamwork tips. Collaboration doesn’t have to be serious. Teams that enjoy working together collaborate more readily and recover more easily from the occasional friction that comes with shared work.

So use internal communication channels to mimic the experience employees enjoy on social media.

In the team chat, allow people to respond with reactions, GIFs, and short-form video updates. In communities, unite co-workers around shared interests. On the news feed, create informal, interactive, hyper-relevant content — think polls, hashtag challenges, and user-generated content.

You’ll bring the team together around a shared culture, boosting engagement and collaboration in the process.

Why workplace teamwork is so important 

Collaboration isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a core commercial advantage.

The strength of your teams — how well they communicate, share knowledge, and work toward shared goals — directly affects your business outcomes. And organizations that invest in improving teamwork see considerable ROI.

Here are a few of the benefits of collaboration and teamwork, and why you should be implementing the team improvement ideas above.

Boosted employee engagement. Effective team working leads to a 23% increase in employee engagement. When they’re supported, heard, and working toward something meaningful with others, employees feel more loyal to your organization and more invested in their work.

Innovation and creativity. Teams that work well together generate better ideas. Bringing together different backgrounds, experiences, strengths, knowledge, and perspectives creates the conditions for fresh thinking that individuals working in isolation rarely achieve.

Increased efficiency. When teams communicate well and roles are clearly defined, duplicated work drops and projects move faster. McKinsey research shows that trusting teams are 3.3 times more efficient.

Knowledge sharing. Employees who work closely together share their knowledge. Information moves more freely around your organization. Silos break down. People have all the info they need to do their best work.

Stronger employee development. Teammates transfer knowledge and skills to one another. So employees gain fresh perspectives and learn new ways of doing things. This improves employee engagement and the skill level of your organization.

Better decision-making. Diverse teams with strong communication make better decisions than individuals or homogenous groups. Different viewpoints surface risks and opportunities that a single perspective would miss.

Enhanced problem-solving. Two heads are better than one. And a whole team of heads is better than two. When your people work effectively as a team, it’s easier to find solutions to the problems facing your organization. 

Boosted productivity. The best teams communicate regularly. They know who’s doing what and when. That means less duplicated effort and a boost to organizational productivity. Companies with high levels of collaboration experience a 25% increase in productivity.

Improved retention. Team dynamics have a huge impact on employee satisfaction. When team relationships are strong and people feel connected to their colleagues, organizations see a 73% reduction in staff turnover.

Improved profitability. All the above translates to a higher-performing organization. And this has an impact on your bottom line. Research shows that high-collaboration organizations experience a 21% boost to profitability.

Improving teamwork in frontline teams vs office-based teams

The teamwork tips above apply across every type of workforce. But how you implement them depends on where your people work.

How to improve teamwork in office-based teams

With desk-based teams, the basic infrastructure of collaboration is already in place. People share a physical space. Informal conversations happen naturally between meetings. You find answers to your questions by turning to the person next to you.

That doesn’t make teamwork automatic. Unclear roles, poor communication, and lack of recognition damage collaboration in office environments just as much as anywhere else.

But the interventions are simpler to deliver. Training is easier to organize when everyone works the same 9 to 5. Managers can praise teams in person. Team leaders can see and spot blockers more easily because employees are working together in front of them.

How to improve teamwork in frontline teams

Improving frontline collaboration requires more deliberate effort. Frontline workers aren’t sat at screens all day. They’re spread across sites and shifts, often working alongside different colleagues or in complete isolation.

This means the informal connections, knowledge sharing, and recognition that occur naturally in offices don’t happen in frontline environments without the right digital channels to support them. That changes how you apply many of the team working tips on this list.

Keeping employees in the loop means a mobile-first news feed, not a desktop intranet update. Surveys have to be quick and accessible if you want workers to fill them out on a busy shift. Frontline workers need chat tools, resources, and recognition, all available on smartphones.   

In summary: The goal in both cases is the same. Teams that feel connected to each other, clear on what they’re working toward, and equipped with what they need to collaborate effectively. The path to that goal just looks a little different depending on where people work.

How can an employee app improve teamwork in the workplace?

If improving team performance is one of your priorities, tech tools are a sensible place to start.

Technology choices have a direct impact on how well your teams can collaborate. For remote and frontline workers, especially, tech tools are what make teamwork possible.

An employee app makes communication and collaboration tools available on every employee smartphone. Here’s what the best tools bring to your teams.

One place for everything

The most common collaboration failure isn’t a lack of tools — it’s too many tools that don’t connect.

When communication, updates, resources, operations, and scheduling all live in different, disconnected platforms, employees spend more time navigating systems than doing the work.

A single, consolidated app (or an app with deep integrations to your primary software) removes that busy work and keeps teams focused.

Communication that reaches everyone

80% of the global workforce is frontline — but the majority of traditional collaboration tools weren’t built with them in mind.

A mobile-first tool, like Blink, puts company updates, team communications, peer-to-peer messaging, surveys, and recognition into every employee’s pocket, without requiring a desktop login or a corporate email address.

Every worker, on every shift, at every site, gets the same information at the same time.

Real-time and asynchronous options

Different moments call for different communication formats. Urgent operational updates need to land immediately. Project discussions can happen asynchronously.

Blink supports both — with direct messaging, group chats, and video calling, all organized and searchable.

Visible recognition

Good teamwork is more likely to be repeated when it’s recognized. Blink’s built-in recognition tools make it easy for managers and peers to celebrate collaboration visibly, in seconds, from the same app employees use for everything else.

Feedback loops

Teams improve when they can share what’s working and what isn’t — quickly and without always having to request a formal meeting. In-app polls and surveys give every employee a direct way to provide feedback.

Analytics that surface collaboration gaps

Analytics provide visibility into how teams are interacting — who’s engaging with what, where conversations are happening, and where there are gaps. That data turns a guessing game into an actionable picture of where teamwork most needs support.

Better teamwork: where to start

Improving teamwork in the workplace doesn’t require a complete organizational overhaul. And you don’t need to act on all of these 27 tips at once.

The organizations that see the strongest results are the ones that recognize where teamwork is falling down and pick a few high-impact interventions, built around the specific needs of their workforce.

For frontline organizations, the issue of tools is usually the most pressing. Make communication, knowledge resources, and recognition systems available on smartphone, and better teamwork will follow.  

Blink. And get your teams working together with the right digital tools.

In her 2+ years at Blink, Ai has been instrumental in driving innovation and efficiency through data, analytics, and strategy. Her passion for problem-solving and building from the ground up has left a lasting impact by supporting Blink's growth and empowering our customers to engage with their frontline teams more effectively.

Which Blink office do you work out of?

London.

What is your position at Blink?

I’m the Director of Revenue Operations at Blink, a role focused on empowering every team to work more efficiently and effectively by providing data, analytics, and strategic guidance while streamlining processes to eliminate friction.

At Blink, RevOps also oversees Business Intelligence. Recently, we launched an external analytics product that offers our customers valuable data and insights to enhance their engagement with frontline employees. Data is truly at the heart of the business, both internally and externally, and I’m proud and excited to be part of it. 

How long have you been at Blink?

Over 2 years!

What initially attracted you to join Blink?

At the start of my career, I worked in finance and business planning for a big company in Japan. Six years ago, I moved to the UK to join a portfolio company of the Japanese multinational I was working for at the time.

That experience marked my first exposure to the startup world, and I loved it. Working in London with a diverse team and encountering different ways of thinking was exhilarating. Since then, I’ve stayed in the startup ecosystem and made London my home. My career has spanned various areas, including finance, strategy, and data analytics, but my true passion lies in using data to identify and solve problems. RevOps has been the perfect fit, allowing me to take ownership of not only strategy and direction but also ensuring that great strategies are operationalised with the most effective cross-functional processes.

So, why Blink? Back then — and still today — two things stood out to me.

First, the business potential was, and remains, enormous. So many companies need effective tools for frontline communication. It’s a new and largely untapped market, which makes it challenging, but that’s exactly what excites me. Being part of a company with vast growth opportunities is incredibly motivating.

Second, especially after Covid, I wanted to do work that felt meaningful. We spend so much of our lives working, and I wanted to channel my energy into something I’m passionate about — something that makes a positive impact. Frontline workers often lack the tools to optimize their work, connect with colleagues, or access information from their employers. They’re too often left behind. I joined Blink because I believe it can change that, and I’m proud to contribute to a mission that benefits society in a tangible way.

What's a project you are proud of from your time at Blink?

I’m proud and excited that at Blink, you often need to create things from scratch — and have the opportunity to do so. As the first RevOps hire, I experienced the rewarding journey of building from zero to one. But the challenge doesn’t stop there; nothing is ever truly complete. Once you’ve accomplished one goal, you realize there are always more opportunities to explore and tackle.

I’m also incredibly proud of my team. It’s growing, and I’m surrounded by talented team members I respect. Although this is still the smallest team I’ve ever been part of or led, the impact we’re delivering to the business is the greatest I’ve achieved so far.

How would you describe the company culture at Blink in three words?

High-bar, customer-centric, and collaborative. 

I chose high-bar because we set high expectations for the quality of our work and the caliber of people we welcome to our team. With the current competitive industry landscape, we can’t succeed by doing ordinary work, and I believe we uphold excellent standards to bring out the best in ourselves.

We’re also customer-centric, with a mission to support not only our customers but also customers’ employees, frontline workers. 

Lastly, we’re collaborative. With limited resources, teamwork is how we achieve more. We’re a fun, intelligent team, and I love how we balance ambition with genuine support for one another at Blink.

What’s one thing you’re excited about for the future of Blink?

I’m excited about the possibility of creating a new market for ourselves. A great example is Slack — before it existed, we didn’t even realize we needed it, but now it’s become the norm, even a verb! “I’ll Slack you!” has become part of everyday language. I believe Blink has the potential to become just as indispensable for frontline companies and their users, setting a new standard in the industry.

Can you tell us about a recent initiative or program launched at Blink that you found particularly exciting?

Two things stand out to me. First is the continuous launch of new features such as Communities, Stories, Voice and Video, Live Streams, and more. It’s truly remarkable, especially given the relatively small size of our product and engineering team. I feel confident that we’re making a meaningful impact in our industry and delivering real value to our customers.

The second is the progress we’ve made with data initiatives. For example, the launch of Advanced Employee Intelligence in August has opened up significant opportunities for revenue expansion while providing tangible value to our customers. This combination of innovation and impact makes it an exciting time to be at Blink.

‍

The most common communication challenges in organizations from big enterprise businesses to small startups are so widespread that dealing with them can start to feel normal.

It’s easy to forget that internal communications issues can have a big impact. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can safely back burner internal comms because communication challenges and barriers are so widespread.

The fact is that poor internal communications can seriously harm your business. It’s a domino effect of frustrating communication, poor morale, lower productivity, higher absenteeism leading to higher employee turnover, and finally, higher costs and smaller profits.

Of course, when you’re in the thick of things, the relationship between poor internal comms and your bottom line might not be very clear. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that communication was thought of as a nice but not necessary soft skill.

We put together this article to lay out some of the ways communication challenges and barriers can sap a company’s resources along with strategies for making your internal comms more effective (also see the best way to improve internal communications).

The deep impact of communications challenges in organizations

The idea that internal communications problems can make a business less profitable can seem overblown.

The statistics, however, show that having a weak internal comms strategy (or having no strategy at all) can have a detrimental impact on everything from employee engagement to your business's bottom line.

Here’s how communications challenges in organizations affect success.

Communication challenges and barriers lead to increased employee turnover

Studies looking into the real cost of employee turnover often show different results.

Some studies show it costs employers 33% of a worker's annual salary to hire a replacement while other research suggests that it costs three times that salary.

What all of the data has in common is that employee turnover definitely costs companies big bucks.

Employee retention and profitability go hand in hand, and the good news is that research shows that 75% of employee turnover is preventable.

Relationships suffer when communication is a problem

Two heads are better than one, but whole teams of heads are necessary for long-term success.

When people can’t communicate with one another effectively because of technical barriers or, worse, can communicate but feel uncomfortable doing so because there’s not a culture of openness at a company, collaboration may slow or even stop.

That means innovation can’t happen and problems languish with no solutions. Your employees just can’t be as productive when relationships with colleagues are strained and everyone feels like they’re working in isolation.

Less productivity means less profit.

Customer service suffers when there are communication challenges

Internal communications and external communications are inexorably linked.

Employees need access to information to answer customer queries, respond to sales inquiries, or help customers get what they need.

When they can’t get that information easily, they’re apt to feel a strong sense of disengagement that can actually lead to everyone—workers and customers alike—feeling frustrated and dissatisfied during encounters.

Dissatisfied employees leave, and as we’ve shown above, that costs money. And dissatisfied customers take their business elsewhere, costing you even more.

Poor communication = stress = higher healthcare costs

This might seem like a stretch, but stress costs the United States $300 billion every year—a figure that includes costs shouldered by businesses that provide insurance to their employees.

While there’s no way to show a hard and fast causal link between frustrations caused by comms issues and increased healthcare costs, it’s worth mulling over the idea that the communications challenges in organizations that stress workers out may also be contributing to expensive physical and mental health issues in those same employees.

Healthcare is expensive, after all, and effective internal comms is cheap in comparison.

Internal communication problems can be a motivation killer

Workers who don’t feel like they have an important role to play, who don’t understand what is expected of them, and who feel like they don’t have a voice literally can’t give their all.

Time that would otherwise go toward productive (and profitable) work is instead spent trying to navigate a confusing company culture or to figure out what that company’s priorities are. There’s no passion among employees because they feel totally disengaged from their tasks and their teams.

The Gallup State of the American Workplace report put it succinctly: “Actively disengaged employees aren’t just unhappy at work—they are resentful that their needs aren’t being met and are acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers potentially undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.”

Communications challenges in organizations lead to mistakes

Workers who have access to the information they need to really contribute to a company make fewer mistakes because they feel comfortable concentrating on the work in front of them.

Employees who are focused on trying to figure out what their priorities should be or simple emotional management are more prone to error.

In a retail environment, the result of this kind of disengagement may be fewer sales. In industries like healthcare, however, mistakes can lead to hugely expensive regulatory issues or even injury and death.

Poor internal communication makes boosting employee satisfaction impossible

You can’t boost your workers’ overall satisfaction if you don’t have a clear idea of what employees like and don’t like about their day to day.

At companies with strong internal communications strategies, managers regularly touch base with employees to get a sense of what’s working and what isn’t. When comms just isn’t a priority, chances are slim to none that workers will open up about what changes could make your business better.

Absenteeism rates are higher when communications is an issue

Employees who can’t jump ship at the moment may show their communications-related dissatisfaction by simply not showing up.

A Gallup study conducted in the UK showed that disengaged workers miss 10 more working days each year compared to peers who feel a strong connection to the company vision and are clear on what’s expected of them.

The biggest challenges facing internal communications teams

The factors that have contributed to the biggest communications challenges in organizations are well documented at this point. Lack of clarity, platform. and targeted messaging.

The main problem that companies have faced has always been how to address those factors effectively and economically. Email and Dropbox alone are outdated.

Just having a clear vision doesn’t necessarily mean it is easy to share and then reinforce that vision. A company intranet portal that provides a platform for internal comms may not actually facilitate good communication. And getting the right information into the hands of the right people has always been tough.

Luckily, solving the big communications challenges in organizations has become easier with tech tools like an internal communications tool. Intranets have evolved over time from simple information repositories to a kind of mobile base of operations where business happens from anywhere.

Blink, for instance, can help you communicate administrative and benefits information, but is also a platform for collaboration, a place to store and search for data, a way to solicit feedback (including anonymous feedback), and a social hub for employees to share with one another.

It lets internal comms teams curate messaging so employees stay on the same page without getting overwhelmed by emails, meetings, memos, and Slack chatter.

Up-to-date internal comms tools like Blink’s employee app are even more important for businesses with a lot of frontline workers—especially now that nontraditional employees like remote workers and long-term contract workers make up such a large percentage of the workforce.

By automating paper-based processes, microapps like this help increase productivity overall.

How effective internal communications will change your business for the better

Curious about what effective internal communication can really do for your bottom line? Here are some statistics that might surprise you:

• Companies that communicate effectively are 50% more likely to report below average turnover levels.
• A 5-point improvement in employee attitude results in a 1.3% increase in customer satisfaction and an increase in company revenue.
• Higher engagement can mean a 40% reduction in absenteeism.
• Employees who feel fully informed and more engaged may be 21% more productive.
• Companies with effective communication strategies see 47% higher total returns to shareholders.
• Poor communication is cited as the main cause of failure for IT projects.
• 69% of employees say they’d work harder if their contributions were recognized and praised.

Knowing what you know now, we also want to offer you a quick list of steps you can take right away to gauge how your internal comms is currently working and to enhance your internal comms strategy.

1. Assess your current strategy — Assuming you have one, that is. If not, you’ll want to make one. But if you do, take the time to consider your internal communications objectives, who has ownership of comms, if the tools you are using are effective, and whether your current strategies are really getting the job done.
2. Poll your employees — Do they feel like they have a voice in your company? If they have an idea, can they easily share it? When they have questions, can they find answers quickly and easily? Does dealing with administrative tasks take up way too much time? Do they like your communications tech? Let workers answer anonymously and adjust your comms strategy accordingly.
3. Put everything in one place — Make this the year you finally commit to storing your company data in one place so tracking down a file is never again a half-day affair. When you use Blink to store the information your employees need—from HR docs to project guidelines—they can easily find it all.
4. Stop sending so many emails — Lengthy, reply-all type email threads are frustrating and, frankly, easy to ignore. Worse, they interrupt the flow of work and often contain irrelevant information leaving workers feeling resentful instead of informed.
5. Send information to the right people — Use a comms platform like Blink that lets you send information to specific employees and teams instead of the entire company. You can even label posts priority and check to make sure that your messages were received and read by recipients.

The bottom line is that employees at every level of your company will be happier, more productive, and more passionate about their work if they feel informed.

The internal communications strategy you put into place now will not only make it easier for your employees to do their jobs, but will also make your company more profitable in the long run.

Blink makes it easier to overcome the most common organizational communication tool challenges in organizations. Are you ready to tackle the challenges facing internal communications at your company?

“Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.” — Joy Gumz

Keeping that train on the right track is the job of a project manager. You have to look at project deadlines, budgets, and deliverables. Then, craft a project plan that achieves the desired project outcomes.

But projects can be derailed by any number of issues. Poor communication. Changing stakeholder expectations. Unidentified risks. Ineffective workplace tools.

So preparation is key. Every good project manager tries to identify and avoid potential pitfalls. That’s why, in this article, we help project managers prepare for their next project.

Read on to discover our ten tips for successful project management.

How do you manage a project effectively?

Effective project management means setting a clear project plan and using the right tools to monitor progress. The best project managers can manage setbacks while keeping the company's goals and workflow on track.

Here are five tips for successful project management:

1. Foster clear and effective communication

The Project Management Institute (PMI) 2023 Pulse of the Profession report reveals a range of “power skills” for project management, as agreed by project managers.

Top of the list? Communication. 68% of survey respondents say that communication is critical to achieving organizational objectives.

Effective project management relies on communication — and not just any kind of communication. To be successful, projects require open communication. Information needs to flow freely between all relevant parties to ensure timely project progress. 

Without this type of communication, your project team becomes inefficient. Collaboration is near impossible. You find it hard to share updates with key stakeholders. Motivation and engagement are likely to dip, too.

With that in mind, here’s how to establish effective communication during projects:

• Hold regular meetings with team members to ensure everyone is on the same page. Clarify deliverables and deadlines. Use these meetings as an open forum, where the project team can share any concerns or ideas.
  
  
• Use communication tools — like Blink’s super app — to communicate over messages and in real-time, even when your project team isn’t working face-to-face.
  
  
• Send project reports to relevant stakeholders regularly, making them aware of any project changes or new developments.
  
  
• Be a good listener. Consider multiple points of view, not just your own. That way, you use all of the skills and expertise within the project team to come up with the best possible solutions.

2. Set clear goals for your project

A great project manager starts by setting goals. Clear goals keep your team focused and aligned. They aid productivity and decision-making.

Well-defined goals also help you decide what project success looks like, making it easier to assess your project once it’s finished.

So before you dive into tasks, ensure you understand the overall mission and objectives of the project. Set the parameters of your project, too. You need to know which tasks you’ll be tackling and which deliverables are expected, along with the timeframe and budget allocated.

With projects becoming more complex, you might like to go further, setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals. You should end up with something like this:

• An understanding of your project goals and how they align with stakeholder expectations
• Project SMART goals and associated metrics
• A clear definition of what return on investment (ROI) means for this project

Once you’ve established your overarching project goals, you can break these down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

3. Create a schedule

A thoughtfully crafted schedule helps a project to run more smoothly. It guides your team to complete project tasks on time, while managing stakeholder expectations, too. It also reveals which tasks are dependent on others, helping you to allocate resources effectively.

To create a project schedule, you need to put all project tasks into a logical sequence, taking into account any dependencies between tasks. You can use project management tools (or just a stack of sticky notes) to visualize project progress.

Next, estimate the duration of each task, using historical data or the past experiences of your project team. You can then identify the longest path of dependent tasks — also called the critical path. This is the project’s shortest completion time.

From this point, you need to:

• Assign resources — including team members, equipment, and materials — adjusting your schedule if resources are needed in two places at once
• Establish milestones and deliverables so you can make sustained progress toward your final project deadline
• Communicate the schedule, sharing it with the project team and key stakeholders
• Use project management tools with features like Gantt charts, time tracking, and Kanban boards to help your team track their progress

4. Use the right tools to monitor progress

It's easier for your team to operate efficiently with the right project management software. Nothing slips through the cracks because everyone can see what needs to be done. If any of your team is working remotely, then this type of tech is critical to project success.

It provides a centralized location for project documents, files, and communication. It allows easy assignment and tracking of tasks. The best software also provides reports and dashboards that summarize project information and facilitate better decision-making.

When selecting a project management software, here’s what to look out for:

• Features that match the complexity of your project and can scale with you as you grow. That way, you're not forced to switch to another software further down the line.
• A streamlined solution. You need a tool that integrates with the workplace software you already use so teams don’t have to log in and out of multiple accounts.
• A platform that’s available on your teams’ preferred devices. If your team members are working remotely, make sure there's an employee app available for mobile devices.
• A clean, modern design that minimizes distractions and a user-friendly dashboard that involves little to no learning curve for your project team

5. Assemble a multi-skilled team

A project is only as good as the people who work on it. You need the right mix of personalities and skills to aid productivity and minimize friction. Get it right and you’ll improve project efficiency and outcomes.

So what traits should you be looking for when selecting project team members?

• They must have excellent communication skills and be able to interact with lots of different people
• They should have basic knowledge of project management methodologies such as Agile and Waterfall
• They must be highly organized so they can keep on top of tasks and meet deadlines even under significant pressure
• They should be familiar with project management software — and happy to use your chosen platform

Remember that the most skilled employees may need some training to thrive as part of a project team. So be willing to invest in their personal and professional development to cultivate those essential soft skills.

6. Motivate your project team members

Skilled project managers know there are times when Waterfall diagrams, Gantt charts, and work breakdown structures aren’t enough to get your team over the finish line. These things definitely help. But the best teams have something else in their favor — motivation.

Gallup research shows that motivated, engaged employees make fewer mistakes. They’re also 17% more productive than their less motivated peers.

Of course, project managers don’t have complete control over employee motivation. But there are some things you can do to increase motivation and employee engagement.

• Recognize the effort and achievements of your team, praising them publicly on shared communication channels
• Create a supportive culture, where all people and their contributions are valued and where work-life balance is respected
• Reduce friction by giving teams the tools and resources they need to communicate and complete tasks effectively
• Don’t micromanage — trust teams to get the work done and encourage team members to share ideas and suggestions

7.  Identify and plan for risks

Risk management is a crucial aspect of project management. That’s because unidentified risks can derail a project. They cause unexpected problems that impact budgets, deadlines, and deliverables.

In the planning stage, project managers need to recognize and assess project risks. By building these risks into your project plan, you’ll find it easier to keep the project on track.

To plan for risks in project management:

• Identify risks. Review past projects and brainstorm with your project team to list potential risks.
• Use SWOT analysis. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in relation to each risk.
• Determine the probability and impact of each risk, giving each risk a score.
• Prioritize risks with the highest score, finding ways to mitigate or avoid these risks where possible

Once your project has ended, take the time to identify and document any lessons learned. It could be that unexpected risks in this project help you to avoid similar risks in the next one.

8. Identify and interact with key stakeholders

Stakeholders are the people who have a vested interest in your project and those who are affected by project outcomes. Some will be directly involved in the project, some will influence decisions, and some just need to be kept in the loop.

Nurturing stakeholder relationships helps your project to run more smoothly. It ensures that you get stakeholder support, with vested interests understanding and agreeing to your project plans.

Here’s what you need to do to create strong relationships with stakeholders:

• Communicate with stakeholders early in the project to establish trust
• Find out how stakeholders want to receive information. Which communication channels do they prefer? Do they want you to provide high-level summaries or in-depth reports?
• Tailor communications to the interests and concerns of each individual stakeholder and resolve any issues proactively
• Engage stakeholders with regular meetings and clear channels for feedback

9. Be a leading example

As a project manager, you need to lead by example. If you demonstrate the behavior, values, and work ethic you expect from your team, your team is more likely to follow suit. You positively influence their approach to work and bolster your own authority, too.

This type of leadership approach also encourages open communication. When team members see you acting with integrity, they’re more likely to trust you. This makes them feel more confident and comfortable when sharing their ideas or concerns.

The best project leaders are:

• Ethical. They treat all team members fairly and communicate transparently and honestly at all times.
• A team player. They take responsibility for their own mistakes and share credit with the whole team.
• True to their word. They deliver on their promises and meet deadlines.
• Proactive. They seek to resolve challenges and conflicts as they arise.

Lead by example and you improve team communication and performance. This helps you achieve project goals more efficiently and effectively.

10. Ask questions

Some leaders like to behave as if they have all the answers. But the best project leaders ask the important questions.

They tap into the collective expertise of their project team so they have all the information they need. They also ask questions of stakeholders so they understand exactly what’s expected.

This approach helps to improve project collaboration and engagement. It also facilitates crystal clear communication. You clear up any doubts, challenge assumptions, and identify potential risks.

With information from all relevant parties — and no questions left unanswered — you’ll find it easier to make decisions and solve problems throughout the course of your project.

What are the most common project management problems?

No project is plain sailing. Here are some common problems to look out for when managing projects.

1. Scope creep

Scope creep is the gradual expansion of a project’s scope beyond its initial objectives. This impacts a team’s ability to complete a project on time, on budget, or in a way that meets project goals. It can also leave everyone — project team and stakeholders — feeling dissatisfied.

A study by the PMI showed that scope creep affects up to 39% of projects. It’s a problem usually caused by stakeholders changing project conditions — things like budget, deadlines, or deliverables. Scope creep can also occur when project scope is not adequately defined or documented at the outset.

To avoid scope creep, you need to proactively engage with stakeholders during the project planning stage. Pin down their requirements and expectations, then get their approval once you’ve put a plan together.

You may also like to establish a change control board or a change request process. This means you have a fixed and logical way to consider and respond to proposed changes.

2. Poor communication

Poor communication is at the core of most project failures. It undermines cohesion and clarity. It opens the door to misunderstandings between your team members and stakeholders. It also serves to erode trust.

This is why it’s so important to establish an open dialogue from the very start of a project. By communicating transparently and collaboratively, you create an environment where everyone shares information and pulls in the same direction.

Communication tools also come in useful. The right internal communication tools helps you to maintain consistent, two-way communication throughout the whole project.

3. Financial setbacks

Wellingtone reports that only 34% of companies mostly or always complete projects while remaining on budget. This is a big issue because a project can only provide the expected ROI if it’s delivered within budget.

So what can you do to keep a project on the right financial track?

We talked a little earlier about project risks. These risks can cause unforeseen costs. So good risk identification and mitigation is crucial.

You also need to ensure the right level of visibility and control over project expenditure. Establish a clear process for tracking and approving expenses to prevent project budgets from spiraling out of control.

Final thoughts on successful project management

We hope that these project management tips help you make a success of your next project. If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this — communication is the foundation of any successful project.  

Whether you’re motivating your team, brainstorming risks, or liaising with project stakeholders, frequent, open communication makes your job easier.

It supports positive teamwork and ensures you keep key stakeholders in the loop. It also facilitates informed decision-making and problem-solving.

Luckily, there are lots of communication and collaboration tools that can help.

With the Blink super-app, project teams can communicate seamlessly. They can share critical documents, launch surveys to gather stakeholder feedback, and recognize one another’s hard work.

Blink also integrates with a range of popular project management software. This means your teams can access communication and project management tools from one user-friendly interface. You can streamline the project process and prevent app overwhelm for your teams.

Want to see Blink in action? Schedule your personalized demo today.

MangoApps is a well-known name in the internal communication and collaboration space, offering an all-in-one platform for employee intranets, communication, and task management. But for many organizations—especially those with deskless or distributed teams—it’s not always the best fit. Whether you're looking for a more intuitive interface, stronger mobile capabilities, or better support for real-time communication, you're not alone in your search.

In this guide, we break down the top 12 MangoApps alternatives to consider in 2025, based on usability, features, employee engagement, and scalability.

What to look for in a MangoApps alternative

Before diving into the list, here are the key factors to consider when evaluating alternatives:

• Mobile-first experience: If your workforce includes frontline or non-desk employees, you’ll need a platform that works seamlessly on mobile devices.
• Ease of use: Platforms with clean interfaces and intuitive navigation drive higher adoption across all levels of the organization.
• Real-time communication: Look for tools that enable instant updates, alerts, and chat, not just static content.‍
• Integration flexibility: Your platform should connect easily with tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Workday, and HRIS systems.
  
• Employee engagement tools: Polls, surveys, recognition features, and content targeting help drive connection and culture.
  
• Scalability and support: Whether you’re a company of 500 or 50,000, ensure the platform can scale with you—and that help is readily available.
  

Here are the best alternatives to MangoApps in 2025

#1. Blink – The all-in-one employee experience app

Best for: Enterprise organizations that want to streamline communication, drive engagement, and boost productivity.

Blink stands out as the most powerful MangoApps alternative — especially for organizations looking for a modern, mobile-first platform that actually gets used. Unlike traditional intranet tools that sit in the background, Blink puts everything your employees need into one intuitive app: communications, schedules, forms, HR systems, and more. With real-time chat, content targeting, newsfeeds, surveys, and recognition features, Blink doesn’t just inform employees — it activates them.

The platform is designed for engagement, boasting adoption rates of over 80% across industries like retail, healthcare, logistics, and manufacturing. It also integrates effortlessly with tools like Microsoft 365, Workday, UKG, and ADP, making it a true hub for the digital employee experience. Plus, Blink’s admin tools give Internal Comms, HR, and IT full control over what content is delivered to whom — so you’re always reaching the right people with the right message.

For companies tired of legacy platforms that don’t connect with modern workforces, Blink is a clear upgrade.

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#2. Staffbase

Best for: Large enterprises that want to build branded employee apps.

Staffbase specializes in custom-branded employee communication apps, with a strong focus on top-down messaging and internal news delivery. It’s a good fit for enterprises with a strong emphasis on company-wide updates, although some users find its collaboration features limited compared to more integrated platforms.

#3. Unily

Best for: Enterprises seeking a polished intranet with strong SharePoint integration.

Unily delivers a sleek and customizable intranet experience, particularly suited to companies already using Microsoft tools. It shines in content publishing and brand personalization, but may require a significant implementation timeline and budget.

#4. Simpplr

Best for: Companies looking for an intranet focused on content discovery and employee engagement.

Simpplr offers a modern, AI-powered intranet designed to help employees find the information and people they need quickly. Its strengths lie in personalization, integrations, and employee feedback tools, though smaller teams might find it more than they need.

#5. Haiilo

Best for: Social-first communication and employee advocacy.

Haiilo blends internal communication with social sharing, making it a great option for organizations that want to empower employees to become brand ambassadors. It supports news distribution, surveys, and analytics, but collaboration tools are more limited.

#6. LumApps

Best for: Organizations embedded in the Google Workspace ecosystem.

LumApps integrates deeply with Google tools and offers features like personalized news feeds, social communities, and knowledge management. It’s well-suited for content-heavy communication but may not be ideal for frontline teams.

#7. Jive

Best for: Enterprises looking for a community-driven intranet.

Jive is a mature platform known for its collaboration and knowledge-sharing capabilities. It supports employee communities and forums but may feel outdated compared to newer, more agile platforms.

#8. Igloo Software

Best for: Mid-size businesses seeking a flexible digital workplace solution.

Igloo offers pre-built templates, collaboration tools, and strong document management. It’s a solid choice for knowledge workers but lacks the modern mobile experience many organizations now require.

#9. Workvivo

Best for: Organizations prioritizing culture, recognition, and employee social engagement.

Workvivo turns your intranet into a social space where employees feel more connected to their company. Its strength lies in fostering real-time interaction and transparency. Many teams choose it to reinforce culture and encourage engagement beyond standard top-down messaging. It’s engaging and user-friendly, though companies may need to pair it with additional tools for workflows, operations, or integrations.

#10. Happeo

Best for: Google Workspace-centric companies wanting a fast, social intranet.

Happeo blends social features with knowledge sharing and is known for its fast deployment and Google integration. It’s ideal for remote or hybrid teams who need an intranet without the complexity.

#11. Speakap

Best for: Deskless workforce communication, especially in retail and hospitality.

Speakap is built for frontline teams and focuses on secure, real-time updates. It’s easy to use and offers role-based content delivery, though it lacks the depth of features found in all-in-one platforms like Blink.

#12. Interact Software

Best for: Enterprises wanting a structured, content-rich intranet.

Interact offers strong content management, personalization, and search capabilities. It’s geared toward knowledge sharing and compliance-driven industries but may not offer as fluid a mobile experience.

Final thoughts on choosing a MangoApps alternative

If you're searching for a MangoApps alternative that delivers better engagement, faster communication, and a user experience your employees will love, Blink should be at the top of your list. While other platforms have their strengths, Blink combines everything you need — mobile access, real-time updates, integrations, and workforce-wide engagement — into a single platform that scales with your business.