Team collaboration is the cornerstone of a successful business. Without it, you will lose sight of the goals set out in front of you. For collaboration to be effective, your organization must focus on trust, accountability, clarity, and positivity, all of which work together to create impactful results. If you see that your teams, whether in the office or remote, are not as collaborative as you would like them to be, try out these three tips.
1. Foster Collaboration and Bonding Within Your Culture
If you want collaboration within your team, you must prioritize it. It is recommended that you foster a collaborative effort within your company values and culture. By doing this, you show that it is not only important to you but to the organization as a whole. Additionally, by enforcing collaboration within the business’s structure, you will have the time to develop strategies and processes to define what collaboration means.
Bonding is also essential to strong collaboration. If your team barely knows each other and has yet to build trust and relationships, you will not get the level of collaboration you are hoping for. Team bonding can be as simple as starting each day with an easy “Would you rather…” or “What is your favorite…” question. This will get conversations flowing and give team members a chance to mingle and bond.
2. Establish Open Communication Through Understood Conventions
If you want collaboration, you need good communication. You can’t have one without the other. So, as a leader, you must ensure you are creating an environment where your team members feel comfortable and safe to speak up about their opinions, ideas, and issues to each other and their leaders. This dedication to open communication can ensure employees can bring their whole selves to the table. Open communication encourages your team members to innovate and participate while also feeling comfortable disagreeing.
To really establish open communication, ensure that your team understands the right channels to do so. If you want all correspondence to go through email, tell them that. Or, if you want all professional conversations to go through email and all personal conversations to go through a messenger, establish that. Ensure everyone on your team knows how to contact each other depending on the topic. Additionally, setting up these conventions can help establish very necessary boundaries for you and your team members.
3. Lead By Example
The most important thing you need to do if you want to build strong collaboration between your team members is to lead by example. Collaboration starts with you. If you work in your office for eight hours a day, barely consider the ideas of others, talk over your team, or do not offer chances for different perspectives, you are effectively teaching your team that they can do the same.
You want to make time to collaborate with your team. Even leaving your office door open if you have to be there can show that you are still open for anything they might need. If you go out of your way to implement times for collaboration, schedule one-on-ones with your team members, or create times for team bonding, you are helping to develop a collaborative team.
These are only three of the many ways you can help create a collaborative team. If you want to learn more or become a stronger leader for your team, contact the team at Wickham James.
