Human beings are collaborative by nature and leveraging this to improve business performance is essential for organizations that have bold goals. Check out this article for strategies and tools that facilitate collaboration at work.
Cooperation is a key piece for companies that want results that are ahead of the curve. To inspire people in leadership roles, we have gathered strategies and tools that can be applied to build and manage collaborative teams.
What is collaboration at work and the benefits of team collaboration for business
Work collaboration happens when people in an organization come together around a common goal, to accomplish a project or develop new ideas or objectives.
Unlike teamwork, which means a group of people working together for a common goal, a collaborative project is a formalized process in which people from different teams, competencies and expertise come together to solve specific problems or create something new.
With a team that works collaboratively, projects that would be long and complicated if done individually become possible.
Some examples of collaboration at work that have the potential to make a positive impact on the company:
- Major systems changes that affect departments
- Mergers, acquisitions, and expansions
- Onboarding new people into the company
- Holding major events and launches
- Implementing ESG principles and projects
- Analyzing and improving the sales funnel from lead generation to renewal
- Brainstorming to find solutions to a specific challenge
- Mapping key processes
- Producing customer success stories
Building collaborative teams allows the combination of different capabilities and specific skills that are unlikely to be found in just one person. The power of the group also enhances these skills, with more motivation and a greater sense of responsibility.
Diversity seems to be a differentiator for maintaining collaborative teams: a report conducted by McKinsey showed that companies perceived as committed to diversity are 11% more likely to report that they can “be who they are” at work, which encourages them to participate and contribute.
The benefits of collaboration at work are diverse and impact departments and processes on several fronts. Some of the main ones:
Upskilling in practice
The collaboration initiatives within the company are an organic way to upskill the team on practical and relevant projects.
Conflict resolution, leadership, knowledge sharing, and project management are some of the many skills that can be absorbed through collaboration at work.
Engagement and sense of purpose
The interaction and opportunities for connection between people working with different perspectives of the company increases engagement and a sense of purpose, responsibility, and importance to one’s impact on the organization.
Holistic view of the organization
By participating in collaborative work initiatives, people are able to zoom out beyond their own roles in the organization, better visualizing the processes and flows between departments, and engaging with the delivery of company results.
Internal mobility opportunities
The talent you seek for strategic positions in your business may be within your own company, and it is cheaper to invest in internal mobility initiatives than to hire from the market.
The creation of collaborative teams can be a context for these talents to gain prominence to grow into new positions.
Innovation
For customers, the union of different ways of thinking brings better solutions and an even richer and more advantageous experience. After all, results are directly influenced by an increase of the team’s creativity, the improvement of internal and external relationships, and the retention of key talent.
What skills are essential for successful workplace collaboration?
Complex projects require collaborative teams that bring together various technical skills, but when it comes to workplace collaboration, interpersonal skills (soft skills) are the key.
Some interpersonal skills (or power skills) that are necessary for a successful collaboration are:
- Patience and active listening
- Conflict resolution
- Communication skills
- Brainstorming and creativity
- Strategic vision
5 strategies for building collaborative teams
Strategies, processes and best practices can be implemented in the organization so that team collaboration permeates all departments and becomes part of the organizational culture. Here are some of them:
#1 Prepare the leadership
When people in the company are recruited for relevant projects, they have the space to speak and are listened to, which contributes to a greater sense of accountability toward business goals.
In leadership positions, creating opportunities for collaboration at work goes beyond identifying the challenge and identifying people with the potential to overcome it: it also includes creating a space for honest and open communication on the team, opening up to disagreements and difficult conversations.
#2 Establish a culture of recognition
Giving people recognition for participating in collaborative teams gives visibility and makes everyone feel valued. Recognition is something that some people, depending on where they are in their careers, value more than cash payouts.
For those who seek meaning in their work, having the opportunity to inspire and share knowledge with other smart and effective people also adds up to a lot of points for talent engagement.
Some ways to recognize people for their collaborative attitude and participation in special projects:
- Bonuses and awards
- Participation in internal recruitment processes
- Public mentions in important spaces such as general meetings or emails, and groups on corporate communication apps
#3 Turn actions into documented processes
Collaboration and effective communication are abstract agendas that can get lost in the day-to-day operation, but there is a way to bring the abstract into something concrete and logical: processes that support collaborative work within the company.
Some processes that can be built to reduce administrative tasks and replicate good practices when collaborative groups are formed:
- Regular meetings with a defined agenda
- Dissemination of the group’s progress in meetings with other interested teams
- Performance appraisals and performance indicators
- Scope of work recorded with tasks assigned to each participant in project tools
- Specific groups in communication tools
- Allocating space in team meetings for brainstorming
#4 Promote lifelong learning
People with a lifelong learning mindset are people who don’t see learning as something that happens in courses and universities, but rather on an ongoing basis, and have an open mind to ask, challenge, and think of multiple solutions.
For a company that wants a team of lifelong learners who can solve problems and innovate collaboratively, constant upskilling alone is not enough, since tools and practices get obsolete very quickly in the current corporate scenario.
The corporate education process needs to include not only how to do things, but also how to create new things, and how to attract and retain people with a continuous learning mindset.
#5 Reflect collaboration in the training plan
To turn goals of fostering collaboration at work into practical actions in a training plan, you need to map out the competencies needed for successful collaborative teams and look for focused training solutions.
Some examples of training that can make a difference in creating a collaborative mindset in business:
- Collaborative communication for global teams, to lessen the challenges of cultural differences
- Inclusive communication, so people feel respected in their diversity in the workplace
- Language proficiency, especially English, which is the most widely spoken language in the business context
- Soft skills development, for learning how to communicate with self-confidence
- Optimized meeting conduction
- Leadership
- Project management
- Collaboration and communication for hybrid or remote teams
Something in common among the topics listed above: all of them can be studied on the Voxy platform at the same time as the team achieves fluency, with classes focused on specific business skills.
If the team operates in a global context, either with team members in different countries or closing deals and serving clients in other languages, it is an excellent strategy to develop more than one skill at the same time.
Tools to facilitate collaboration at work
Some tools can be especially helpful in structuring a collaborative work environment. Examples of tools that can facilitate collaboration at work and build collaborative teams include:
- Asana, Trello or Monday for project management
- Donut app, an extension to Slack that schedules meetings with people from different areas in the company to freely exchange ideas
- Google Suite, for documents to be accessible, commentable and editable for everyone involved
- Slack or Teams, for creating specific channels for collaborative team communication.
Final Thoughts
Collaboration at work is important for companies of all sizes, and it is challenging to not only create but also maintain the collaborative culture as the company scales its business.
To maintain a team with the skills needed to work on collaborative projects, it is necessary to go beyond training that teaches how to do things that are already done and include training that encourages creativity, communication, and continuous learning.
Schedule a conversation with Voxy to understand how your team can be trained in the skills that form collaborative teams while mastering business-oriented English.
