Team collaboration is the process of two or more individuals or groups coming together to carry out a task or realize an objective. It can also be described as a group of people cooperating to achieve common objectives. Collaboratively meeting goals drives productivity and fills employees with a strong sense of purpose.
Different Team Collaboration Styles
There are various unofficial methods of cooperation, many of which you may already be using in your projects. Here are some of the most typical ways that employees collaborate at work:
- During a group brainstorming session, all team members can share their thoughts and ask questions to reach decisions that take into account everyone’s participation. Even though it is one of the most basic types of collaboration, it is effective in enhancing teamwork and fostering trust.
- Mixed-skilled teams: Although it may seem paradoxical, assembling teams with a variety of abilities can improve your effectiveness. You boost the likelihood of reaching a diverse audience and encourage new ideas by choosing employees from a variety of backgrounds.
- Open discussion: As opposed to the traditional “lecture” style, center your in-person meetings on the discussion. This helps break down hierarchical boundaries, keeps everyone engaged, and can lead to more productive meetings.
7 reasons why team collaboration is important
1. Higher retention rates are the result
Collaboration paves the way for a more open, connected, and engaged workplace, making it more alluring to potential and present employees than compartmentalized and disconnected firms. Your employees like a culture that prioritizes teamwork, and it will go a long way toward keeping them from seeking work elsewhere.
People value connection, particularly in the workplace. We want to work with people we can trust, who respect our opinions and our points of view, especially those who have varied educational and professional backgrounds. Simply said, collaboration is what enables this.
2. Improved Problem-Solving
Collaboration in work entails combining diverse talents to create a pool of knowledge and skills. Teams will use a better approach to problem-solving when more qualified and experienced individuals are brought together.
3. You’ll be aware of the larger context
You will have a better chance to understand the disparities that a team has if you have people from various backgrounds working together. They will undoubtedly complement one another in several ways, and you may exploit that for your company. Even if the outcome does not meet your expectations, you will still benefit from your cooperation and be able to accomplish a lot.
4. Remove obstacles
Successful businesses always encourage teamwork among their employees. Team members from one department work together with those from other departments in the company as well. Everyone in a corporation will work toward shared objectives, creating a fantastic feedback loop that may be applied to projects. To better meet the objectives of the organization, everyone on the team will be allowed to voice their opinions.
5. Online Teamwork Resources
Social media’s ability to unite teams cannot match with other means. Teams can collaborate using a variety of cloud-based solutions, such as ProofHub. Other significant benefits that come from teamwork include:
- Brainstorming – Through brainstorming to generate potential solutions, collaboration enables team members to unite around a common platform and objective.
- Equal Participation – Through collaboration, team members are given equal opportunities to contribute and express their views.
6. Better Engagement
Each team member should contribute equally to initiatives when working together. Each team member should improve their contributions, generate original ideas, and occasionally come up with solutions to the many project issues. It’s quite simple to accomplish all of this with effective teamwork. Additionally, it removes any potential roadblocks to reaching the project’s ultimate purpose.
7. Faster Production
“Individual dedication to a shared goal is what makes a team, business, society, and civilization successful”. Lombardi, Vince
The argument is that it takes longer to start and finish when an unfamiliar collection of people band together to work on a common objective. However, when a coordinated and cooperative team of people works together, the entire situation is changed. The entire process quickens, and the result surpasses everyone’s expectations for the team.
8. Collaboration raises morale across the company
People will naturally start to trust one another more when connections are created between teams and departments, which can gradually raise the mood of the entire company. After all, low morale and a lack of trust aren’t going to make an organization successful. Working collaboratively with individuals outside of your team or department regularly is one of the best methods to develop trust.
The opposite is also true: the more motivated your employees are, the more likely it is that they will feel at ease working with teams made up of individuals from other departments. Additionally, this appeals to high performers who are increasingly seeking settings with greater transparency and engagement.
9. It opens up new channels for communication
Finding new ways to communicate and share information is hugely important to the success of any business, which is why collaboration should be utilized whenever possible to form bonds between departments.
Creating a more cohesive, open workplace benefits everyone because it, “maintains regular, direct communication with team members, helps you gain valuable insights into the operations of each department, and be able to resolve issues quickly.” On top of that, it brings everyone a little closer to each other and improves the overall mission of your organization.
A lot of collaboration tools, like an intranet for example. They’re designed to essentially open up your business so that all areas of the organization can communicate with each other and keep tabs on what other teams are working on through news updates, announcements, events, discussion channels, you name it.
The benefits of team collaboration
Adaptability
Similar to problem-solving, flexibility comes naturally to a team that works together. A team may be ready for any circumstance if it is aware of its purpose and ultimate objective. Your industry will undoubtedly change, and a workforce that is prepared can forecast that shift. Teams and organizations have to change at a relatively rapid speed, and if your team isn’t aligned, it’s simple for change to lead to disaster.
Open communication and participation
Teams that work together converse. The first step to effective communication is incorporating collaborative tools into your workflows, such as Asana and Todoist. These allow coworkers to see the work that is being done, who is in charge of it, and how it affects everyone’s job.
A group that works well together is at ease discussing ideas and bringing new procedures and tools to the table. With that level of involvement, teammates can speak with one another openly and honestly. This leads to fresh ideas and ways the team can advance.
Better Idea Generation
A cloud-based document collaboration tool encourages creativity and brainstorming by providing a central location for communication and collaboration.
Two workers discussing a potential project. New ideas, growth strategies, creative inspirations, and tactical concepts are certain to be shared when personnel from various departments interact. Physical boundaries between coworkers are removed, allowing for productive and enjoyable communication.
Skill-sharing
Your team is communicating, anticipates change, and addressing problems, but a team cannot do these things without sharing knowledge. If your team can bring its expertise to the table, everyone can coach each other, teach new skills, and enhance the team as a whole. Every effective team also possesses a variety of expertise that can be used to develop fresh strategies for success.
Goal congruence
Through a combination of individual and team-driven activities, a team accomplishes a common purpose. You are aware of your position and the reason behind your labor when you have a certain objective in mind. This implies that you can combine your skills and knowledge to streamline your processes and realize your shared objective. Aligning these goals leads to team-wide support, contributing to all-around skill-sharing and increased productivity.
Challenges of Team Collaboration
Despite the many benefits, introducing collaborative practices can be difficult. Below is a list of common challenges that arise when implementing collaborative practices, as well as possible ways to overcome them:
- Current Workplace Practices: Workplace collaboration is often at odds with a more traditional workplace structure, such as one with stricter divisions of work or an authoritative management style. Employees might resist change, so phase in collaborative practices over time for a smoother transition.
- Different Starting Positions: Not every employee will be comfortable adopting the new practices, and not every team will be able to incorporate them in the same way. Therefore, design a flexible implementation strategy so that collaboration works for everyone.
- More Complex Decision-Making: With more people involved, decision-making can become more complicated. Maintain strong leadership, so you can keep a clear, coherent direction.
- Low-Cost Savings: Although cost savings are an advertised benefit of workplace collaboration, don’t expect to reap monetary benefits overnight. Be patient and persistent, and you’ll see results over time.
- Strong Senses of Individuality: If your organization values individuality or if you have many strong personalities on a team, collaboration may be met with some resistance. Create teams with people who complement each other, so you can avoid power struggles.
- Measuring Return on Investment (ROI): Collaboration ROI can be difficult to measure empirically, so take time to define the metrics you want to track.
Additionally, don’t assume that collaboration itself will solve all of your business problems. You’ll still likely need to institute a project management system to keep your work on track — this could be as simple as a project outline or rough timeline to remind you of your objectives and deadlines, so you don’t get bogged down by decision-making.