As the CEO of Bubbles, which is dedicated to enhancing collaborative efficiency throughout the myriad of modern workplaces, I know I face an uphill battle, but I recognize the challenges ahead. This is the rationale behind encouraging every member of a team to approach this challenge with clarity and the necessary knowledge and equipment to unlock their team’s potential and begin to drive even better workplace results.

Part of this process is centered around dodging common yet overlooked mistakes. Identifying such mistakes can often seem glaringly obvious to someone like me, as it is essentially an inherent focus. Still, I recognize that this is a unique perspective, and therefore, I want to embark on this journey of empowerment for other professionals.

To begin, I want to highlight a fact uncovered within a recent Salesforce study that indicated that 86% of employees and executives identified ineffective collaboration and communication as a leading cause of business failure. This is a scarily high figure, but it proves the critical importance of soft skills within businesses. Possessing certain business-specific technical skills is one thing within a team environment, but without the aforementioned non-technical skills, team environments can often become stifling, and the likelihood of success diminishes.

The notion of soft skills being eroded in the current, highly digital age is something that I have previously explored and covered extensively. Still, as well as thinking that this is not a fully accurate hypothesis, I also believe that we can begin to set ourselves up better to thrive. By originally recognizing the importance and then focusing on eradicating everyday barriers and mistakes, we arrive at a possibility to improve, and this is what I want to establish here, with this leading me to the first mistake to sidestep.

1. Underestimating the power of clear communication

The previous paragraph has already emphasized how great communication is any team’s lifeblood, so I will just reiterate briefly. Moving into 2024, where we see remote work and digital tools at the forefront, we must adapt more carefully than ever.

Being able to balance efficiency with the retention of critical soft skills is something that I believe will enhance workplaces as we move forward, but it is a tall order. This is why we must prioritize clarity and establish clear communication channels and methods; excessive reliance on digital communication in the instance that a team has not achieved the former goal risks misunderstandings and a decrease in productivity and, subsequently, morale. Excessive reliance on digital communication, when a team is not ready for this, can be dangerous for widespread reasons, leading me to the next mistake to eradicate.

2. Failing to adapt to new technologies

Resistance or failure to adapt to and adopt new technology can severely handicap teams. It is clear that rapid developments in technology lead to higher expectations for output from workplace sectors that directly benefit from such advancements.

For example, using a tool like Bubbles’ AI notetaker to record, transcribe and summarize meetings into actions can streamline team collaboration and communication, ensuring clarity is retained post-meeting. The key point here, however, is that a company or team that fails to adopt technology like this will be stuck carrying out these automated actions themselves, losing time, disrupting timelines and likely increasing confusion throughout the team.

They are likely to witness their efficiency decrease relative to their more adaptable competitors, potentially losing customers. Although fictional, scenarios such as this have led reputable sources to notions such as “innovate or die” in relation to businesses evolving technologically. Although generally, this represents a critical mistake, it can also be transformed into a tip.

I say so because, looking at Deloitte’s global survey of managers and executives, we learn that 90% of respondents and companies agree that digital technologies and trends are disrupting their industries but that only 44% feel adequately prepared for these disruptions. An old school teacher once said they believe in “good preparation” over “good luck,” and I want to echo this notion here. I believe that by being prepared to face and embrace technological advancements, we can collaborate better and, in turn, shift the mistake of technological negligence into a seamless transition.

3. Undervaluing regular feedback and employee well-being

Feedback is one of the most powerful tools for growth, especially collaboratively, and yet remains often underutilized in many workplaces. This would make sense to me if feedback represented an aspect of work that the majority of employees wanted to dodge, but the reality is quite the contrary. A study by PwC revealed that almost 60% of respondents claimed to want regular feedback on a daily or weekly basis. Everybody wants to improve and innovate to avoid the notion above of “innovate or die”, and well-executed feedback is the key to unlocking improvement.

Make sure not to fall into the mistake of moving with the wind in collaborative efforts, as this can not only stunt growth but can lead to further issues and mistakes, such as groupthink. No one wants to be a member of a stagnant team or feel like they are not growing as a person and employee, and therefore, this links to the criticality of employee well-being. A happy team is a productive team, and being able to reduce workplace stress can positively impact a team’s bottom line. Don’t be worried if you feel that this is something your team has neglected; the reality is uncovered by The American Psychological Association, which found that 550 million workdays are lost every year due to workplace stress.

Overall, don’t be alarmed! The key is to recognize these mistakes and dangers now, and focus on eradicating them from your team while you can!