The more effectively your people work together, the more effective your organization will be at achieving its objectives and goals. Unfortunately, people don’t always collaborate in ways that benefit the organization’s mission and your vision as a leader.

The truth is that today’s leaders are faced with more challenges than ever before when it comes to inspiring people to work together. A lot of it has to do with our current technologically driven reality — people are becoming increasingly isolated, finding comfort and solitude in their own personal bubbles. We see it at home, in our social groups and within our workplaces. Yes, the time we live in is amazing in many ways, but it has also served to separate us from each other.

As a leader in today’s world, you need to implement new strategies and tactics to encourage collaboration. You cannot simply expect people to come together on their own. Instead, you have to make it engaging and worth their while.‍

The Benefits of Collaboration for Organizations

When organizations are made up of people who willingly and enthusiastically collaborate, great things happen:

• Collaboration Impacts Outcomes Positively and Directly — When people engage in open collaboration, information is shared more readily, and communication improves markedly. This improved flow of energy and information energizes an organization and gets people fired up about achieving team goals.
• Improved Flexibility — Technology is often cited as a detriment to collaboration, but it can also encourage greater flexibility within the collaborative effort. The key is for you to lead people in a way that encourages them to use their devices and data as collaborative tools. When people collaborate using technology, they can boost their connections with each other considerably. Technology also makes it possible for people to stay connected and collaborate around the globe outside of the constraints of the typical, 9-5 workday. People don’t always come up with their best ideas at work; collaboration via technology allows them to stay plugged in and connected with each other and their ideas much more flexibly.
• Improved Engagement — At the end of the day, employee engagement is the secret to organizational success, and when people fail to collaborate effectively, they become can become disengaged. This is particularly true of remote workers, who can become disengaged much more easily than their in-office counterparts. When collaboration is highly valued within an organization, everyone feels like they are part of a powerful team, regardless of their physical location.
• The Speed of Innovation Increases — Your team consists of a diverse array of personalities and areas of expertise. When these individuals bring their distinct gifts to the table and collaborate, problems get solved more quickly and amazing new ideas blossom much more readily.
• Employees Build Their Skills — People who work closely together in collaboration learn from each other and strengthen each other’s skill sets. It also enhances relationships between members of different functional departments. Furthermore, collaboration helps newer employees get up to speed faster.
• Employees Are More Satisfied — In a collaborative work environment, employees feel more valued for their attributes and input, which drives satisfaction significantly. Having satisfied employees has a beneficial impact on your organization’s culture, and can make it easier to retain your best people.
• Customers and Clients Are Happier — Collaboration allows employees to find solutions to problems in a much faster way, which in turn allows them to satisfy clients and customers more quickly and effectively.

How to Improve Collaboration — 4 Tips for Success

A collaborative workplace is generally a successful one. But you can’t expect people to jump on board and collaborate more effectively overnight. It will take time, energy and effort form you to get your people to buy in by modeling the right behaviors.

Here are some of the ways you can lead your people to improved collaboration:

#1 — Use Team-Building Exercises and Games
Do you remember the last great team-building workshop you attended? Chances are, it consisted of a lot of exercises that brought people and ideas together. You probably left feeling energized and empowered, largely because of the impact of collaboration. But when you got back to the reality of day-to-day business within your organization, the status quo once again took over.

Take a cue from today’s professional sports teams, who often integrate team-building exercises into their training and practice plans. Coaches organize activities with the sole purpose of bringing their players together as human beings, not as athletes. This builds relationships, enhances trust and gets everyone involved and on the same page.

You can do the same thing with your team by having them compete in games or sports that encourage collaborative problem solving. And don’t be afraid to get your people out of the office from time to time, even if it’s just to bond over a movie, show, museum or other experiences.

#2 — Use Team Collaboration Software.
Software can be used as a hub for collaboration, allowing everyone on the team to contribute, learn, grow and exchange information in a central location. Examples of this type of software include Slack, Monday and Asana. This encourages people to stay connected and also keeps the flow of learning and development happening for your team.

#3 — Focus HR Practices on Collaboration
You can create a more collaborative workforce by working with your Human Resources team to recruit and hire individuals who value collaboration. Even more effective practices include making it part of your organization’s core values and culture so everyone in the organization models this behavior more effectively. You can create signage and advertise it all you want, but you must lead by example, or you are simply putting words on paper.  

#4 — Be a More Collaborative Leader
I think this is the most important tip of them all when it comes to improving collaboration. Your people look up to you as a model of how work should be accomplished within your organization. You can’t expect them to collaborate enthusiastically when you spend your days alone behind your desk, not engaging with others. Instead, focus on working among your team members, communicating readily and frequently.

Let your people know that they are working with you, not for you. Additionally, you should use your leadership to build a culture that emphasizes mentoring, coaching and honest two-way communication.‍

Balance Is Critical for Collaboration

When your people work together collaboratively, good things happen. But you have to be able to keep the proper balance. Yes, working together enhances productivity and engagement, but you need to allow employees to work and solve problems on their own when necessary. If you don’t create space for your people to work in solitude, they become unable to bring anything of value to their teams and might feel fatigue and burn out. Striking this balance may be difficult, but it is essential if you want to build a sustainable culture of collaboration that lasts for the long term.‍

More Help for Creating a Collaborative Organization

What challenges have you faced when attempting to build a more collaborative culture in your organization? Have you tried the tips I mentioned in this article? What strategies have worked for you?

If you’re curious about how you can go deeper in creating a more collaborative workforce, I can help! Email me today at joanne.trotta@leadersedgeinc.ca to learn more.

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