“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is a success.”
Henry Ford
It is not a secret that effective team collaboration can have many advantages for businesses. They include innovation, increased efficiency, and improved business outcomes. And the numbers mentioned below speak for themselves:
- A study by Queens University shows that 75% of employees believe team collaboration is significant for their career growth.
- McKinsey survey: Around 8 in 10 companies witnessed improved business efficiency after using project management software.
But creating a collaborative team is not an easy task, especially with the onset of remote work culture. You need to follow some best practices to promote team collaboration, and you will find them in the blog.
8 Best Practices to Promote Team Collaboration in 2022
1. Create a clear and compelling mission statement
It is necessary to fuel excitement amongst team members by providing them with a convincing reason to work for the organization. In addition, the mission statement will inspire team members to give their best to the company.
Writing or engraving the mission statement at the workspace alone will not boost team collaboration. Business leaders should practice the core company values and objectives mentioned in the mission statement. In this way, they can lead their workforce towards growth and prosperity.
2. Define and communicate the goals of your team
Outline the individual team goals and objectives of every functional team in your organization. The goals set the stage for business communication, which is crucial for long-term success.
Communicating with your team about their goals should not be a monthly conversation. Ideally, you can do it daily. For example, you can conduct morning sessions to encourage team members to work towards specific goals together.
Also, experienced entrepreneurs can take it a step further and let the team members define their goals. Just make sure that they are realistic and achievable. Else, it may overwhelm the team members and hamper their productivity.
3. Create a judgment-free work environment
The truth about corporate work culture is that many employees are afraid to participate in team meetings. They fear judgment from seniors and are terrified to voice out their ideas.
The fear of judgment hampers team collaboration to a great extent. But you can help employees overcome their fear by ensuring that the organization values their creativity. Welcome even the strangest and wildest ideas from everyone in your organization.
Encourage team members to take calculated risks. If they achieve positive outcomes, reward their efforts. But if they make mistakes, provide constructive feedback.
A collaborative work environment where members can learn from each other and grow together helps business growth. As a result, the company reaps positive results while the workforce enjoys personal and career growth.
4. Invest in a digital workplace
A digital workplace unifies business tools, activities, and processes to build a culture of team collaboration.
Business productivity tools help the entire team combine their knowledge and expertise to achieve a common goal. Project management software is one such tool that helps team members collaborate on work, communicate effectively, and allocate resources wisely.
Your digital workspace can look the way you need it to be. If you are an entrepreneur running a small business, do not invest in all the available tools right away. Instead, allocate a budget to experiment with different tools and see what works best for your team.
Thus, you can grow your business exponentially over time by investing in collaboration tools.
5. Spend quality time out of the office
We are not talking about attending corporate gatherings at five-star hotels. They are usually obligations for employees.
Socializing with team members outside the office opens up communication channels, creates a better understanding, and breaks down any mistrust.
Team leaders should preplan offsite lunches or dinners at least twice a month. They should plan it on a working day and not on the weekend.
Spending quality time outside the office helps team members learn common interests or challenges of other team members. In addition, it helps to decrease individual bias, stereotyping, and false objectification.
Thus, when we experience that our team members are also human, it builds rapport and encourages team collaboration.
6. Conduct one-on-one coaching sessions
Team leaders should have one-on-one sessions with their members. They should do it frequently in addition to the annual performance reviews.
The discussion must cover everything, including their failures. If you are a team leader, ask your team members about issues troubling them, especially if you have noticed any changes in their performance or productivity. Conversation analytics software can help you assess the performance of your team.
The sessions can help your team identify interests and passions worth exploring further and mastering. It also boosts their personal and professional development.
Also, the sessions will make employees feel more connected to the team and the organization, thus motivating them to perform well.
7. Keep promises and honor requests
Promises and requests in any company are usually related to the customer. But what if you can do the same amongst your teams?
The executive leadership should demonstrate time and again that employees and customers can count on the brand to deliver its promises.
When team members and customers feel they can depend upon your brand to get what they expect, your business grows, and so does team collaboration.
8. Let your teams feel they belong to a community
The HR (Human Resources) team can play a crucial role in making employees feel they belong to a community of professionals. It can do so by sponsoring group events and activities, such as cooking weekends, women’s networks, and tennis coaching. And there must be policies and systems in place that encourage such initiatives.
Marriott International Group of Hotels: A Striking Example of Community Work Culture
The Marriott Group invests in informal networks as part of its HR strategy. Marriott remains a family business to date despite its size and global reach. The chairman, Bill Marriott, communicates this idea regularly to his employees.
Many of the hotel group’s HR investments reinforce a friendly, family-like work culture. Almost every communication reflects an element of staff appreciation. The HR team hosts many activities that create a sense of fun and community. Here are some of them that can inspire you:
- The hotel’s cafeteria may hold a twist dance contest, and while doing so, recognize the anniversary of the company’s first hotel opening.
- Bill Marriott’s birthday is celebrated with parties throughout the company and serves as an occasion to emphasize the firm’s culture and values.
- The chairman has his blog, which is popular amongst employees. He discusses everything from Marriott’s green initiatives to his favorite family vacation spots. Such blog themes reinforce the feeling that the company is a community and not just a workplace.
A Final Word
You saw how a handful of best practices take team collaboration in your organization to the next level. And you need not implement all of them at the same time! You can start by following some of the best practices diligently. It will work wonders for your business.
Good luck!