Does your workplace proactively encourage employees to collaborate with other team members to achieve company goals?
Creating a collaborative environment is critical for the growth of employees and the long-term success of your organisation. However, facilitating collaboration in the workplace requires the right strategies and technologies. You must also anticipate common communication challenges and understand how to overcome them.
Here’s everything you should know.
What is Collaboration at Work?
Collaboration at work refers to employees using their collective talents to achieve common goals.
Collaboration is more active than simple cooperation; it requires team members to be actively engaged and develop a sense of shared responsibility.
Encouraging collaboration is a critical aspect of talent management. You’ve built a team with the skills to succeed. Now, you’ll give them tools, time, and guidance to use those skills when completing projects. That’s what collaboration at work is all about.
Key Characteristics of Effective Collaboration
Collaboration is about much more than simply working together. To promote effective collaboration, organisational leaders must promote the following values:
- Open and transparent communication
- Defined roles and responsibilities
- Mutual respect and trust
- Shared goals
- Flexibility
Employees must also learn to adapt when things don’t go according to plan. This means taking responsibility for what they can control and trusting that their colleagues will fulfil their duties.
Collaborative teams also engage in employee recognition to ensure that every staff member feels valued and appreciated for their contributions. When everyone feels respected, they will be more open to future collaboration opportunities.
Collaboration vs. Cooperation vs. Teamwork
Collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork are related but distinct concepts.
Teamwork is a group’s ability to work together cohesively, often by incorporating elements of collaboration and cooperation.
Cooperation is more surface-level. While tasks may be divided or even shared, there is minimal interaction between teams or departments.
For instance, a marketing employee may nurture and prime a lead. They could then forward the prospect’s file to a sales agent, who converts the lead into a customer. Both team members cooperated to finish the deal, but there was minimal collaboration.
However, colleagues actively communicate and engage in idea-sharing during a collaborative effort.
Let’s say the marketing employee contacted the sales agent and gave them an account of the prospect’s communication preferences, behaviours, and pain points.
The sales agent could use these insights to meet the prospect’s needs more effectively. That’s collaboration in action.
Why Collaboration is Essential
Collaboration is vital for your business because it:
- Brings together diverse perspectives and teams
- Encourages employees to solve problems together using multiple perspectives
- Increases productivity and reduces miscommunication
- Keeps team members motivated
- Builds camaraderie and a positive company culture
Collaboration also impacts employee development. Individuals who are engaged and supported at work may be more likely to reach their personal and professional goals.
Benefits of Fostering a Collaborative Environment
There are plenty of compelling reasons to foster a more collaborative workplace.
When your workforce moves from simple cooperation to collaboration, employees will avoid duplicate or redundant efforts and get more done.
Everyone will be on the same page, allowing them to apply their talents in the most productive ways possible.
A collaborative environment also fuels the personal development of your team members, giving them more opportunities to share knowledge and cross-train. Employees can thus explore different roles and discover new interests.
Creating a positive, collaborative workspace is also great for your employer brand. When you have a reputation for encouraging teamwork and maintaining a supportive culture, you can attract top talent and improve retention.
Common Challenges to Collaboration
If collaboration benefits employees and businesses, why doesn’t every organisation have a collaborative culture? Many companies embark on initiatives, but they run into barriers such as the following:
- Poor communication channels
- A lack of trust
- Conflicting goals within teams or between departments
- Inefficient or outdated tools
- Time constraints due to heavy workloads
Proactive team building can help you overcome these challenges and create a more collaborative environment.
However, it’s important to understand the benefits and drawbacks of team building so that you can structure your workforce in a way that supports individual and organisational objectives.
While talent management is one of the foundational elements of team building, you must also invest in the right tools. These tools can remove barriers to a collaborative workforce when combined with practical communication policies.
Strategies to Improve Collaboration
Consider these actionable strategies for improving collaboration once you’ve built a talented team.
Encouraging Open Communication and Active Listening
Do employees feel encouraged to share their ideas and constructive feedback? Do managers actively listen, or do they simply listen to respond?
Creating an effective feedback culture allows you to unlock actionable insights from various teams and departments. Transitioning to a culture where active listening and open communication are encouraged will help you reach your collaboration goals.
Establishing Common Goals and Shared Objectives
Each department has distinct priorities and goals. While it is essential for a department to focus on core responsibilities, team members must also see the connection between their work and big-picture company objectives.
This will encourage them to take pride in their work while supporting other teams’ goals.
Setting Up Effective Collaboration Tools and Processes
Many employees want to collaborate but lack the tools and workflows to collaborate with other departments.
Evaluate your organisation’s current suite of collaboration tools and review your interdepartmental processes. Identify weak points and implement new solutions to promote effective collaboration at scale.
A project management platform and communication tools that make exchanging information in real time effortless should be at the top of your list. Create standardised processes to maximise the ROI of your new collaboration tools.
Fostering a Culture of Trust and Respect
Employees prefer to collaborate with people whom they trust and respect. While it is important to allow your team to build trust organically, you can nurture this process by reshaping company culture.
Encourage transparency in all workplace interactions. Lead by example when communicating with your team. Be open and honest about what’s going on, how it will impact the business, and why you are implementing new initiatives.
Also, arrange team-building activities to help employees find common ground with colleagues with whom they have had limited interactions.
Tools and Technologies for Effective Collaboration
Investing in the right technologies will promote impactful collaboration at scale. Explore the following solutions:
- Project management software
- Communication tools
- Cloud-based document sharing
- Video conferencing
When exploring new tools to promote collaboration, consider ways to modernise your talent and skills management processes.
The Role of Leadership in Promoting Collaboration
Company leaders play a crucial role in creating a collaborative work environment. Managers and executives should:
- Lead by example
- Encourage cross-department collaboration
- Provide training and resources
- Create incentives
Employees who see their managers collaborating with other department leaders will be encouraged to follow suit.
Real-World Examples of Collaborative Success
Many organisations have used Klara’s solutions to promote better collaboration and communication.
Safran, a manufacturing and technology leader, turned to Klara to digitise their training programs for new manufacturing team members. The organisation achieved an 86% engagement rate from tutors and managers, reducing the time spent on administrative tasks associated with on-the-job training.
Engagement is a prerequisite to collaboration. By increasing engagement among managers and tutors, Klara enabled Safran to improve cooperation during training and onboarding.
BPRI, another Klara client, belongs to the second-largest banking group in France. The company created an effective feedback culture and transformed their one-to-one interviews with our platform.
The result was better collaboration and communication between employees and managerial staff.
Collaboration in Remote and Hybrid Work Environments
If your business relies on remote or hybrid teams, you will face unique barriers to collaboration. However, you can encourage teamwork in these environments by:
- Implementing virtual collaboration tools
- Setting clear expectations for staff
- Scheduling regular check-ins
You should also seek feedback from your off-site workforce to identify barriers to collaboration; once you have determined these barriers, explore tools and policies to eliminate them.
Measuring the Impact of Collaboration
To gauge the effectiveness of collaboration efforts, you can:
- Administer employee engagement surveys
- Track productivity metrics
- Gather feedback from team members
Your collaboration strategy won’t be perfect on day one. You should continually build on what works and fix what doesn’t.
Improve Collaboration at Work With Klara
Klara provides digital tools to manage your workforce and accelerate each team member’s professional development journey.
Partnering with us enhances your employees’ skills and persuades them to work together for the good of the organisation.
Get in touch with Klara and learn how our collaborative tools unlock the full potential of your team.