In the United States, collaboration is regarded by approximately 75% of employees as crucial in the workplace. It’s also one of the critical skills needed for workplace success.
More small business owners are encouraging collaboration between team members. There are several benefits to workplace collaboration. For example, it can improve staff efficiency and co-worker relationships and promote innovation. But what is involved if you want to optimize workplace collaboration?
If you’re a small business owner and want to encourage collaboration in the workplace, keep reading. This blog has four great tips to get you started.
1. Encourage Collaboration
If you want your team to work together, it’s not enough to just instruct team members to work together. Instead, you want to take a proactive approach. Either you or your team’s manager can do the following things to encourage collaboration in the workplace:
- Invite discussion
- Discuss disagreements
- Host brainstorming sessions
You want your team to work together so your company can get the best results. If you actively encourage your team members to collaborate, they will likely follow through.
2. Incorporate Collaboration as a Work Ethos
Many companies foster a competitive environment. For example, a competitive environment is often seen within a sales team working for commission.
Employees with a “me” mentality are less likely to work well with others, so you want your staff to know that collaboration is a meaningful company value. As a team leader, you want your staff to work as a team to work on new projects and develop new ideas.
3. Foster Morning Meetings
A team that doesn’t check in with each other often enough can easily fall behind on projects and tasks. If you have team members working on a project within your company, you want them to check in at least weekly. Ideally, the team should have a morning meeting to check each other’s progress.
Morning meetings are a proactive way to start the day and can help build on the idea of a team goal vs individual goals.
4. Utilize Technology
Our fourth workplace collaboration tip is to utilize technology. This can mean using digital software to allow team members to communicate with each other; for example, check out this online whiteboard software. A digital workspace can be conducive for several reasons:
- It encourages conversation between co-workers
- Team members can access it from any device
- It encourages productivity
- It offers real-time feedback
- Team leaders can use it to set daily, weekly, and monthly goals
Foster Workplace Collaboration for Team Productivity
There are so many reasons workplace collaboration is so vital in a small business. It’s a great way to encourage open and effective communication between co-workers. It also promotes team creativity and innovation. These four tips will guide you in creating a collaborative company ethos that fosters a supportive workplace environment.
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