Collaborate with decision makers

Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school?  Sign up for a free Google Workspace trial

What you'll learn

How to find and meet with stakeholders, assign tasks, track progress, and keep projects moving forward.

What you'll need

About 10 minutes.

Google Workspace account. Don't have one? Start your free 14-day trial today.

In this tutorial

Get in touch with stakeholders Meet with stakeholders Resolve issues

1  Get in touch with stakeholders

Expand all  |  Collapse all

1.1 Search for stakeholders

If you’re working on an urgent issue or assignment and you need to get other people in your organization on board, you can search for them in Google Cloud Search.

Find and contact stakeholders:

1. Sign in to Cloud Search at cloudsearch.google.com.

   If you can't sign in, your account doesn't have Cloud Search. Learn more
2. Search for a person by name.
3. In the result card, to send an email, click the person's email address.
4. To get other contact options or more reporting information, click the person's name to open their profile information page. 
5. In the profile information page, click how you want to contact the person:
   • To send an email, click Email  or the person's email address.
   • To set up a meeting, click Schedule .
   • To chat, click Hangout .
   • To start a video call, click Video call .
6. To open the profile information page and contact the person's manager or direct reports, click the name of the manager or report.

1.2 Communicate with stakeholders

After you establish who you need to contact, compose an email or send a message to stakeholders.

	Open Gmail.
	On the left, click Compose . You might see Compose  instead.
	(Optional) To change your window size, in the upper corner, click Maximize  or Exit full screen .
	Add recipients and a subject.
	Enter your message. Email you start writing but don't send are automatically saved in Drafts on the left.
	(Optional) Add attachments, such as Drive files  or photos .
	Click Send.

Tip: To cancel sending an email, at the bottom of the window, click Undo. This option appears briefly, but you can change how long it lasts. See Undo sending your mail.

Send a direct message to someone:

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. If the name isn’t already under "Chat," click Start a chat .
3. Enter a name or email address. Suggestions appear as you enter text.
   • To send a 1:1 message to someone outside of your organization, enter their email address.
4. Click the person you want to message.
5. Enter a message, then click Send .

Start a group conversation:

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. Under "Chat," click on an existing group conversation, enter a message click Send .
3. If the group conversation isn’t under "Chat,” click Start a chat Start group conversation.
4. Enter a name or email address. Suggestions appear as you enter text.
5. Click Done .
6. Enter a message, then click Send .

2  Meet with stakeholders

2.1 See when people can meet

It can be difficult to coordinate schedules with large groups of people in different time zones. Before you schedule a meeting, you can check everyone’s availability in Google Calendar.

1. Open Calendar and click  CreateEvent.
2. Go to the Add guests section and enter the person's email address.
3. Click Suggested times and select a suggested meeting time.
4. Click a time slot.
5. (Optional) If you can't find a suggested meeting time, click Find a timeand select a time slot.
6. Click Save.

 

2.2 Schedule a meeting

1. In Calendar, click Create .
2. Add the event title, date, and time.
3. Click Add guests and add participants.
   Note: A Google Meet video meeting is automatically added once you add a guest. Or, you can click Add Google Meet video conferencing before you add participants.
4. (Optional) Add an event description or attachments, such as an agenda or presentation.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Send.

2.3 Attach files to your meeting invite

Attach documents or any other resources you want to discuss. Guests can review relevant files before the meeting and come prepared.

1. Click the Add description or attachments field.
2. Add details, such as contact information, instructions, or links for your event.
3. (Optional) Format your description by bolding, italicizing, underlining, or adding lists and links.

2.4 Join the meeting

See your scheduled meeting in Calendar and quickly join a video meeting. Use this Google Meet cheat sheet.

1. In Google Calendar, click the event you want to join.
2. Click Join with Google Meet.
3. In the window that opens, click Join now. 

2.5 Share and present during a video meeting

Meeting organizers with Google Workspace for Education can prevent participants from sharing their screen. 

1. In Google Drive, open the Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides file you want to share or present.
2. (Optional) To edit a document, spreadsheet, or presentation simultaneously with your guests:
   1. In the upper-right corner, click Share.
   2. Add a title to your document and click Save.
   3. Add your meeting guests and give everyone Editor access.
   4. Click Send.
3. Open Google Meet and join the meeting.
4. Click Present now and choose what to share:
   • Your entire screen
   • A window
   • A tab
5. Click Share.

Tip: If you're not using Chrome browser (which automatically hides any pop-up notifications), mute or turn off notifications so they don’t appear when you’re presenting.

2.6 Share files and other materials

Prepare everyone working on the assignment by sharing any relevant files or folders.

Share a file or folder with specific people:

1. Select the file you want to share.
2. Click Share or Share .
3. Under Share with people and groups, enter the email address you want to share with.

   Note: If visitor sharing is on for your organization, you can invite someone who doesn't have a Google Account to collaborate on your Google Drive files and folders. See Share documents with visitors.

4. To change what people can do to your file, on the right, click the Down arrow Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
5. Choose to notify people:
   • If you want to notify people that you shared a file with them, check the Notify people box. If you notify people, each email address you enter will be included in the email.
   • If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the Notify people box.
6. Click Share or Send.

Share a link to a file or folder:

1. In Drive, right-click the file or folder you want to share and select Share .

   In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, at the top, click Share.

   Note: You can only share files that you own or have edit access to.

2. (Optional) To specify what people can do with your file when you share it, under your organization name, click Change:
   • To change the permission, at right, click the Down arrow  and select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
   • To allow sharing the link outside of your organization, next to your organization name, click the Down arrow Public.

     Note: If you don't see this option, contact your administrator.

3. Click Copy link.
4. Click Done.
5. Paste the link in an email, on a website, or wherever you need to share it.

2.7 Assign tasks

After you establish who needs to work on the assignment, you can assign tasks to stakeholders.

1. In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, select the text you'd like to comment on.
2. Click Add comment .
3. Enter your comment in the box.
4. (Optional) To direct your task or comment to a specific person, enter a plus sign (+) followed by their email address. You can add as many people as you want. Each person will get an email with your comment and a link to the file.
5. (Optional) To assign the comment to a specific person, check the Assign to box.
6. Click Comment or Assign.

Note: If a file reaches the maximum number of comments, you can make a copy of the file without copying over any comments.

2.8 Send a follow-up email

After the meeting, send a follow-up email to summarize the meeting notes and any additional tasks.

	Open Gmail.
	On the left, click Compose . You might see Compose  instead.
	(Optional) To change your window size, in the upper corner, click Maximize  or Exit full screen .
	Add recipients and a subject.
	Enter your message. Email you start writing but don't send are automatically saved in Drafts on the left.
	(Optional) Add attachments, such as Drive files  or photos .
	Click Send.

Tip: To cancel sending an email, at the bottom of the window, click Undo. This option appears briefly, but you can change how long it lasts. See Undo sending your mail.

3  Resolve issues

3.1 Collaborate on potential solutions

Create a document that serves as a blank canvas for everyone’s ideas and solutions. Edit together in real time, chat within files, and get targeted feedback using comments and suggestions.

1. In Docs, Sheets, or Slides, select the text you'd like to comment on.
2. Click Add comment .
3. Enter your comment in the box.
4. (Optional) To direct your task or comment to a specific person, enter a plus sign (+) followed by their email address. You can add as many people as you want. Each person will get an email with your comment and a link to the file.
5. (Optional) To assign the comment to a specific person, check the Assign to box.
6. Click Comment or Assign.

Note: If a file reaches the maximum number of comments, you can make a copy of the file without copying over any comments.

3.2 Track updates and changes

See how your project tasks are progressing at a glance with conditional formatting rules. For example, add colors to make completed tasks stand out from tasks that haven’t been started or are in progress.

Set up progress trackers:

1. Open Sheets and select the column that you want to apply the formatting rules to.
2. Select FormatConditional formatting.
3. Set up the rules. In this example, you assign a different color to tasks that are Complete, Not started, or In progress:

	On the Single color tab, under Format cells if, select Text contains.
	In the box under Text contains, type Complete.
	Under Formatting style, click the list to choose if you want the background or text to be colored.
	To assign a custom text or background color, click Text color or Fill color . If needed, you can specify a color for the text and a color for the background.
	If you want to add more rules, click Add another rule and follow the same steps. For example, assign a red background to Not started tasks and an orange background to In progress tasks.
	Click Done.

3.3 Schedule a final meeting

Schedule a final meeting to ensure everyone has completed their assignments and discuss any questions.

1. In Calendar, click Create .
2. Add the event title, date, and time.
3. Click Add guests and add participants.
   Note: A Google Meet video meeting is automatically added once you add a guest. Or, you can click Add Google Meet video conferencing before you add participants.
4. (Optional) Add an event description or attachments, such as an agenda or presentation.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Send.

3.4 Collaborate on an agenda during the meeting

During the meeting, share an agenda so everyone is in the loop.

1. In Google Drive, open the Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides file you want to share or present.
2. (Optional) To edit a document, spreadsheet, or presentation simultaneously with your guests:
   1. In the upper-right corner, click Share.
   2. Add a title to your document and click Save.
   3. Add your meeting guests and give everyone Editor access.
   4. Click Send.
3. Open Google Meet and join the meeting.
4. Click Present now and choose what to share:
   • Your entire screen
   • A window
   • A tab
5. Click Share.

Tip: If you're not using Chrome browser (which automatically hides any pop-up notifications), mute or turn off notifications so they don’t appear when you’re presenting.

Google, Google Workspace, and related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company and product names are trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.