Try the shared calendar if your colleagues miss meetings you organize or if you are having difficulty managing your team. A shared calendar is an essential tool for teamwork, perfect for centralizing information and managing projects. It boosts productivity and team involvement by streamlining communication. Scheduling meetings, creating reminders, and tracking deadlines are just a few of the features of the shared calendar that we recommend you explore.
What is a shared calendar?
A shared calendar is a common planning tool for collaborative work. It enables you to organize, share, and view meetings, customer appointments, and other important events. It is ideal for businesses to facilitate communication between multiple people, saving time and increasing productivity.
This business calendar can be a common calendar in paper format or on a whiteboard. However, it is most often used in its digital form. It is available on both computers and mobile devices and offers everyone the opportunity to manage the calendar easily.
Depending on the software used, shared calendars can incorporate various features related to teamwork. These include reminders and time zone management.
What are the advantages of such a tool?
Making and sharing a shared calendar is a critical decision. This is due to the fact that such a tool has undeniable benefits for improving the performance of your teams.
Manage projects efficiently
First and foremost, if the shared calendar includes advanced features, you can use it for project management. Task planning, visualization of milestones and deadlines to be met, and meeting organization are all essential components of such software. As a result, it is extremely useful for gaining a general understanding of the project and its timeline.
Optimising collaborative work
Transparency and communication are essential components of teamwork. By agreeing to share a shared agenda with your colleagues, you give them access to information. They can learn what each member of staff is up to, when the next meeting is scheduled, and so on. It is now easier to refer to your agenda for better time management.
Facilitate communication
If you set up a schedule via a shared calendar, you will find it easier to take into account the constraints and availability of each person and you can avoid scheduling conflicts and work overloads. In real time, the different team members can consult the calendar and make changes if necessary.
Avoid oversights
One of the major problems in project management is the potential for oversights. The best way to prevent even minor tasks from being overlooked is to use a shared calendar. With automatic notifications and reminders, you can ensure that everyone is fulfilling their duties and attending team meetings.
The features of a shared calendar
From making appointments to creating a to-do list, the possibilities of a shared calendar are varied. They are perfect for speeding up your processes and improving team productivity.
Creating events
The creation of events is the first application of a shared calendar. Appointments, video conference meetings, and birthdays are all possibilities! You can specify the date, time, and location. If the situation changes, you can change them after they’ve been created.
Notifications and reminders
Email notifications and smartphone/tablet notifications are very useful to keep you up to date. As soon as an event changes or the deadline approaches, the employees concerned receive a reminder. This means that each team member always has the latest information and can react accordingly.
Time zone management
If you manage a multi-site team, this feature can be very relevant. It’s easy to organise meetings by grouping employees working in different locations or in distant geographical areas.
Interface customisation
Some shared calendars allow users to modify the interface according to their wishes and needs. This allows users to better visualise essential information by choosing the colours or any other visual element of their choice.
Sharing and managing access rights
Access rights management is an essential part of any business and guarantees confidentiality. It allows you to define access to information for each employee. The creation or modification of calendar events can thus be subject to a specific access right.
How to choose the right shared calendar for your team?
Although a shared calendar is rich in advantages and functionalities, you should not jump on the first software that comes along. You need to assess your needs and select the most appropriate agenda for your team. To do this, you need to consider a few important criteria and steps.
- Assess your needs: First of all, list your objectives in detail. Identify the features your team needs and the preferences of your employees.
- Compare features: Then look at the features offered by different shared calendars and compare them. For example, reminders, access rights management and software integrations should be studied carefully.
- Check the ergonomics of the tool: It is essential that the calendar is simple and easy to use. A modern graphical interface will promote the adoption of the tool by team members.
- Preserve your security: The security of company data and the confidentiality of user data must be optimal. For example, the tool should comply with the RGPD and if possible have data encryption features.
- Test different solutions: Before making your choice, take the time to compare several calendars by taking advantage of trial versions. This is the best way to check the suitability of the tool for your employees.
The decision to buy and make use of a shared calendar software solution is crucial if you want to promote teamwork within your division or business. You’ll be able to plan, organize, and communicate more effectively in groups as a result. Last but not least, keep in mind that by involving your team in the tool selection, you can ensure quicker software adoption.
