So you’ve implemented a business collaboration solution in your company - fantastic! You have already taken the first, most important step to improving the effectiveness of your business communications and collaboration.

Now that you’ve received that gold star, you may need a bit of help encouraging the rest of your team to move away from their old ways of collaboration (email, IM, face-to-face meetings, etc.) and into the new solution that will benefit your people and your business as a whole. And once your people have begun using the solution, how are you going to make sure you get the most out of their communication and collaboration?

Here are 6 steps to making your team collaboration more effective.

1. Have Fun!
Your business collaboration solution doesn’t have to be all business. Have some fun with it. Set up a virtual watercooler where you can share stories, news and fun ideas with your team. And use the collaboration features to plan your company’s holiday party or a summer barbecue. These types of activities will help encourage idea sharing and working together.

2. Hold A Contest
Still not seeing enough collaboration after you first launch the system? Hold a contest to bring more people into the solution. Offer a small gift card to the person who shares the most valuable ideas and thoughts in the collaboration solution in one week. This will help draw in more of your people to see the benefits of your chosen solution while also sparking their competitive nature.

3. Encourage Each Other
When someone asks a detailed question or leaves an insightful comment, thank them for contributing positively to the team’s collaborative experience and encourage them to keep sharing. Building these internal champions for the solution will help encourage more people to join in the system as well.

4. Bring In Expertise
If you’re working on brainstorming ideas for messaging or deciding to update the layout of your website, bring in those people who have experience with those topics. Asking for their expertise and opinions will show they are valuable teammates and they’ll want to join in other conversations to help out others.

5. Ask Questions
Increasing the frequency of the dialogue in your collaboration solution can help ingrain it into your business faster. One way to do this is to ask questions. Always try to draw in more information from your team to store greater detail in your collaboration system, and to keep others coming back to read and learn more.

6. Recognize Team Success
When your team has accepted how beneficial your collaboration solution can be, and you’ve seen a huge upswing in communication and the quality of work being completed, recognize that success. Share the news in a team meeting or take your company out for lunch. Showing your appreciation for their help, their time and their success only gives them more incentive to continue collaborating for a more successful business.

When you get the most out of your business collaboration solution, you’ll know you made the right choice in implementing it for your team. Enjoy the improved communication, the positive attitude and the increased business success you’ll see while working together.