How to Improve Team Collaboration at Work

For an organization to run smoothly and meet its goals, it is important to foster a work environment that supports collaboration amongst colleagues. Unfortunately for most organizations, team cooperation does not occur naturally. You must make an effort and take steps to help build and sustain a cooperative work environment.

Team cooperation in the workplace can mean many things. It involves the level at which employees participate in decision-making, how management and employees work together to resolve problems, and how all levels of the organization work together to achieve common goals.

If you know collaboration is important but your team still hasn’t quite mastered it, don’t worry — here are some ways to improve those skills.

1. Teamwork must become part of your workplace culture

For coworkers to successfully collaborate, the leadership within the organization must work to make collaboration one of the key values of the enterprise. Employees must see that the leadership within the firm works together as a team to accomplish goals. Also, the company’s leadership must award teams publicly when they are successful at working together to achieve their objectives.

To truly improve cooperation skills, leaders must provide an environment where employees are not afraid to share their ideas. Leaders must create a culture with positive team dynamics where the exchange of ideas is encouraged and rewarded. Teamwork and collaboration must be a central theme of the corporate culture to improve team cooperation.

2. Provide teams with the resources they need to work collaboratively

To make improvements with communication, the organization must provide the necessary resources to the teams. This includes comfortable workspaces where the teams can work together. If the teams are spread out amongst different locations, then the organization must provide the resources that allow the teams to work together remotely, such as video conferencing.

3. Be an example

Being the leader of a team requires setting an example of collaboration because team members often react to the environment that managers create. You can use your role as manager or team leader to exhibit being open to new suggestions. You may also support team members who are debuting a new skill or contributing a new idea, which helps expand the team's skill set.

4. Clarifying roles and setting expectations

Organizations will find when all employees are on the same page, team collaboration will quickly become a seamless and natural process. Making sure each employee understands – not only his or her role, but also the roles of the people around them will help everyone understand the big picture and how they fit into the larger puzzle.

It is also imperative that the leadership sets clear expectations for teams so that as employees work together, everyone is clear on which goal or objective needs to be reached.

5. Encourage openness and feedback

In order for your team to collaborate together successfully, they need to feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts, opinions, ideas, concerns, and feedback.

It’s important to foster an environment that encourages openness and feedback. Encourage constructive criticism, share successes and failures with your team, and let them know there’s no such thing as a stupid question! When people feel safe enough to speak openly, teams can work together more successfully.

6. Resolve team conflict quickly

No team will ever be perfect, and it is crucial for organizations to recognize this and have a system in place to handle any conflicts that arise. The system should allow any employee to share their concerns without repercussions. Also, employees should be allowed to have input on any solution to implemented by the organization.

Employees who know there is a system in place and are comfortable knowing the dispute will be handled fairly will be able to work with other team members in a healthy and collaborative manner.

7. Celebrate and reward successful teamwork

How you measure your team’s success will signal what kind of company you are. If you reward effective teamwork and successful collaboration, you communicate the values underpinning your business.

When you design your employee appraisal metrics, focus on team collaboration and individual successes. Make it clear that your employees’ team efforts will be noted, and collaborative achievements rewarded.

The teamwork and collaboration examples above are vital for a productive, efficient, and engaged workforce — but they’ll only work if your team knows how to collaborate. Luckily, it is possible to learn these skills and improve them over time so anyone can become a more collaborative worker.