Guest Article by Mark Simons
Collaboration is essential if you want to bring out the best in your organisation. Today we have a guest article from Mark Simons, an emerging writer, who talks about the importance of collaboration.
Collaborative Teamwork Makes for Better Business and Happier Team Members
What do we mean when we talk about collaboration in business? In its most simple form, it means different employees of a company working together to achieve a common goal. It’s bringing people together from different departments and teams to share ideas, skills, and talents to get things done more effectively and efficiently. In fact, working as a team to pool expertise and resources will increase productivity. If you’d like to get your employees working well as a team, book in a “Team Strengths” session with Multiply Coaching. Visit www.multiplycoaching.com to find out more.
Cross-Team Collaboration
If you want to get staff from two or more teams on the same page, then cross team collaboration is the best solution. This requires trust, open communication, respect, and making sure everyone knows what the goals and objectives are.
Teams are pretty important for fostering employee satisfaction. In fact, a recent report from Teamwork found being part of a team is one of the most important things for employees. Provide shared workspaces so that employees from different teams can work together and allow members from each team to be part of the decision-making process.
Diversity
The best way to get the maximum benefit from your collaboration efforts is to include staff and employees from the largest pool of backgrounds and life experiences possible. University of York notes that diversity and inclusiveness are important in all aspects of your business, but especially in collaborative projects.
A diverse group of people brings different perspectives, ideas, and experiences to the table. A diverse group will most likely add more unique and creative solutions to problems. Your diverse team will more easily be able to identify and problem-solve issues as they apply to your diverse market and customer base.
Reward Collaboration
Bonuses are the reward most appreciated by employees, as are other financial rewards like gift cards or gift certificates. But there are plenty of ways that you can reward your team members. Consider giving time off or flexible schedules to team members for successful collaboration. You can offer mentorship or any opportunity for career development or personal growth. Organize team-building activities and events like creating bowling teams and tournaments or a family picnic day.
Open Communication
Open dialogue is important for allowing team members to feel comfortable sharing any ideas or questions they have. They need to know they can offer opinions and feedback in a non-judgemental environment.
Document everything, and utilize digital tools to help. You can use online tools to help you organize and store documents related to your business. When digitizing paper records, if you want to split a large PDF into multiple, smaller files, a PDF splitter tool lets you quickly separate PDF pages. When you’re looking for an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop tool, check this out. After you save the file, you can rename, download, or share the new PDFs with others.
Also use communication technology like instant messaging, video conferencing, and collaboration platforms like Slack.
Provide opportunities for everyone to share ideas and brainstorm. Reserve a room in your facility or reserve space at a coffee shop or at a co-working office space.
Walking meetings are another great way to get employees to communicate more and feel more engaged. Instead of sitting around a stuffy conference room, invite a few team members to walk around the company grounds or neighborhood with you. If you work in an area with a high walk score, which means that you can easily walk to shops, restaurants, and cafes, walk together to pick up an afternoon latte. While you walk, you can discuss official matters.
Regular Feedback
It’s good for both you and your employees when they know right away that they're doing a great job. It’s also necessary for them to know right away when they have room to improve. It’s important they know both what needs improving and ways to make that happen. When you do, then working as a team becomes much smoother.
It’s also an important way to show your staff that you value their hard work. Timely feedback can also be an invaluable employee retention tool, which is critical for maintaining a smooth and seamless way of doing business.
They should know both what needs improving and ways to make that happen. When you do, then working as a team becomes much smoother. It’s also an important way to show your staff that you value their hard work. Timely feedback can also be an invaluable employee retention tool, which is critical for maintaining a smooth and seamless way of doing business.
Feedback, along with employees feeling comfortable with management from their team as well as other teams, leads to job satisfaction. A study from the Families and Work Institute showed that being happy at work is more important than salary and benefits when it comes to job satisfaction.
Help Your Team Collaborate Successfully
Team collaboration allows for more effective communication across all aspects of your business, which leads to more productivity, improved decision-making, better creativity, and unique problem-solving. And as an added benefit, it also increases job satisfaction, which is great for employee retention. It’s the best of both worlds for everyone.
Multiply Coaching helps you better achieve goals and objectives by creating thriving teams, developing plans and formulating strategies for effectively applying your strengths. Contact us today to learn more. Email office@multiplycoaching.com or call +44 07545501080
