Next-generation team collaboration trends are shaping the future of work at an incredible scale. In the last few years, the way teams connect, share ideas and innovate has evolved multiple times, thanks to new technologies, new generations entering the workplace, and changing priorities.
Today, collaborative experiences go far beyond in-person office meetings and video calls. Collaboration is emerging as a multi-faceted concept, connecting people, artificial intelligence, and the latest technology to fuel greater creativity and engagement.
So, what will the future of collaboration look like in 2024? Here are some of the major team collaboration trends we believe will be crucial to the future of work.
Major Team Collaboration Trends in 2024
The way we define team collaboration is shifting. It’s not just concepts like the continued demand for hybrid and flexible work or the evolution of collaboration software that companies need to consider. Effective collaboration demands a new approach to enhancing employee experiences, supporting overwhelmed teams, and adapting to different working styles.
Let’s look closely at the team collaboration trends that will impact your business this year.
1. Demand for Flexibility Guides Team Collaboration Trends
Though return-to-office mandates became increasingly common in 2023, the demand for flexibility hasn’t disappeared. Though many companies believe returning to the office is critical to enhancing company culture, reinstating traditional office structures presents numerous challenges.
In the face of inflation, budget restrictions, and talent shortages, implementing return-to-office mandates is harder than ever. One study found in 2024 that flexibility will be critical to attracting and retaining talent in the years ahead. This is particularly true for larger organizations currently losing staff to smaller, more adaptable employers.
Moving into 2024, business leaders must be more creative about addressing the continued need for flexibility. While hybrid and remote work might not be possible for every employee, exploring other options, like the four-day workweek or the creation of flexible office neighborhoods, may be necessary.
Organizations will still need to invest in hybrid and virtual workspaces that adapt to the needs of different employee personas and requirements. Meeting room technology will continue to adapt to effectively align in-office and remote teams.
2. The Rise of Mobile-First Communications
Continued demand for flexible working styles will influence how companies implement and select communication tools. A report from Cavell found that 41% of employees still prefer exclusive remote work, suggesting companies will need to invest in a new approach to mobility.
Purchases of fixed-line services are dwindling, and BYOD (Bring your own Device) opportunities are becoming more common. To ensure teams remain productive, aligned, and engaged in this new landscape, organizations must consider taking a mobile-first approach to communications.
Fixed-mobile convergence solutions will become crucial, allowing users to access a single corporate number across mobile devices, applications, and desk phones. At the same time, UCaaS leaders will explore new ways to integrate cellular networks with their platforms, ensuring the ideal combination of service quality and user experience.
Failure to adapt to the new mobile workforce will place companies at risk of talent turnover, lost productivity, and compliance issues caused by Shadow IT.
3. Collaboration and Communication Consolidation
For some time, team collaboration trends have highlighted a growing need for technology consolidation. As the workplace grows increasingly digitized, employees rely on various tools to complete everyday tasks. Some studies show the average staff member uses up to 11 different pieces of software and apps each day.
The complexity of the fragmented communication, collaboration, and productivity tech stack is leading to issues with workplace efficiency and staff alignment. Consolidation represents an opportunity for companies to improve employee experiences and reduce costs.
All-in-one platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Workspace, are increasingly flexible. These solutions now offer access to communication and productivity management tools and diverse integrations with a range of other solutions.
Cloud leaders empower combines to combine their UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS solutions, create their connected workflows, and reduce context switching.
4. Management Styles Align with Team Collaboration Trends
Today’s team collaboration trends don’t just influence the technology companies implement for their teams. They’re also directly impacting how teams are managed and supported in a complex landscape. Middle managers are becoming more essential as “performance accelerators,” hyper-focused on the needs of specific employee groups.
Unfortunately, the nature of the modern workplace means many managers struggle to find the time to develop talent and enhance employee experiences. As a result, business leaders are embedding new solutions into their collaboration strategies. Companies are embracing solutions like Microsoft Viva, aligned with Teams, to empower collaborative learning strategies.
AI tools like Copilot are filling the gaps in the onboarding and employee development journey, offering personalized step-by-step coaching and support. Intelligent solutions also help business leaders and supervisors pinpoint opportunities in their workforce, helping them understand their teams’ strengths and weaknesses.
The growing need for ongoing learning, development, and team engagement will drive increased investment in “assistants” that help shape the employee experience going forward.
5. Wellbeing Becomes a Major Success Metric
When investing in team collaboration trends in 2024, business leaders must think more carefully about the whole employee experience. In the past, many organizations focused almost exclusively on basic productivity metrics to measure the success of a collaborative team.
Now, however, companies recognize the impact of wellbeing on employee performance and business growth. According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace report, worker stress levels have remained at record highs since the pandemic. High stress levels in the workplace influence team relationships and drain productivity.
To address this issue, business leaders will need to build their collaboration strategy focusing on minimizing stress and reducing burnout. Tools like AI therapy chatbots and health-tracking platforms integrated into collaboration tools will grow more common.
Additionally, businesses must invest more consistently in gathering employee feedback to detect and minimize burnout. This focus on empathetic and experience-focused collaboration will grow even more critical as Gen Z continues to enter the workplace.
6. Diversity and Inclusion in Collaboration
An era of generational renewal is beginning to emerge in the modern workplace. This will become clearer throughout 2024 as Generation Z moves into critical business roles. The new generations in the workplace will directly impact the team collaboration trends.
Glassdoor believes this is the year when Gen Z will surpass the number of baby boomers in organizations, creating a shift in collaboration preferences. The popularity of in-person meetings and traditional phone calls will continue to decrease as a new tech-savvy community takes over.
This means new concepts, like virtual meetings hosted in the metaverse and asynchronous work, will continue to gain traction. At the same time, businesses must be more flexible in empowering different groups of people from different backgrounds.
Ensuring diversity and inclusion for all forms of employee persona will be critical moving into 2024 and beyond. Businesses will need to be willing to adapt, experiment with new ideas, and support the increasingly varying requirements of their teams.
7. AI Unlocks New Team Collaboration Trends
One of the most significant team collaboration trends that began to take hold in 2023 was the introduction of “AI” into the team landscape. Studies suggest that AI-related corporate investment could reach around $200 billion by 2025, particularly as generative AI evolves.
AI solutions are already proving extremely valuable to companies that need to unify, engage, and empower distributed teams. Microsoft Copilot, Google Duet, and similar solutions are helping staff work more creatively together and bridging complex communication gaps. These tools can enhance the quality of meetings, reduce misunderstandings in the workplace, and boost productivity.
However, the rise of generative AI systems in team collaboration does come with some risks. For instance, while 88% of companies already use this technology in some way, only 7% have a regulatory framework dedicated to those tools. A lack of clear guidelines on working with bots could lead to compliance issues and damage the company’s reputation.
Business leaders will need to ensure the benefits of implementing AI into their collaboration tools don’t come at the cost of more security and privacy risks.
8. Immersive Collaboration Tech Takes Hold
Immersive technologies will have a significant impact on team collaboration trends in 2024. Although many organizations have yet to embrace the metaverse and extended reality solutions to support collaboration, this could change in the months ahead.
Innovative new solutions like Microsoft Teams’ Immersive Spaces, Meta’s cost-effective mixed reality hardware, and even Apple’s Vision Pro are stepping into the spotlight.
Combined with the latest transformations in the AI landscape, these solutions could pave the way for a new era of immersive work. They offer a unique opportunity to align teams for meetings, creative projects, and relationship-building exercises in a virtual space.
Used correctly, these technologies could address numerous challenges for today’s collaborative teams. They could help reconnect distributed workers, enhance feelings of inclusivity, and even support better training and development initiatives. With metaverse-as-a-service solutions gaining traction, companies will have more opportunities to build their own bespoke digital spaces.
The Team Collaboration Trends to Watch This Year
The current team collaboration trends represent an exciting shift in the modern workplace. The traditional office environment is becoming more flexible, experience-focused, and immersive. Increasingly, companies are discovering new ways to align, support, and enhance their teams with the right technology and processes.
As we continue to take strides into the future of work, the definition of collaboration will evolve. It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for the collaborative workplace.
