Collaboration is one of the most critical aspects of the success of a business. Whether you’re working with outside vendors, employees in different departments, or clients, it is essential. However, it can be quite challenging. Not only are there different personalities involved, but there are also corporate politics and the human tendency to avoid confrontation. Below are some business collaboration tips to help you develop effective collaboration strategies.
Why Effective Collaboration Strategies Are Important
For most people, their collaboration experience goes back to high school or college days. It likely involved working on a team project where few people contributed the majority of the work while everyone took credit for the end result, good or bad. As a result, many enter the workforce either feeling defensive about their role in projects or annoyed at the lack of production from others. Neither of these is ideal in a workplace setting.
The ability to collaborate with others is essential to the success of both individual contributors and the overall organization. Understanding its importance is the first step to developing effective collaboration strategies. Constructive approaches to collaboration build trust, foster positive energy, reinforce long-term relationships, improve the sense of job fulfillment, and maximize productivity.
Our Top Business Collaboration Tips
Collaboration involves mindset, approach, and communication. Let’s take a closer look at each one of these.
Mindset – Think like a team player and encourage everyone else to do the same. You are all working toward the same goal. By fostering a team mindset, you encourage everyone to ask for help when needed and to help their team members when they are struggling (rather than watching them fail). To promote this mindset, use inclusive words like ‘we’ and ‘us’ rather than ‘you’ and ‘I’.
Approach – Use an integrated approach to collaborating with others. This means observing, asking questions, sharing information, inviting others to participate, and asking for feedback. Without all of these components, collaboration efforts may fail to reach success.
Communication – Start with active listening; repeat what you hear to confirm your understanding. Choose your words carefully and use non-emotive language. For instance, instead of saying “Why would you think that?” you might say, “What information did you consider when coming to that conclusion?” Notice how the first might elicit a defensive response whereas the second might be better received. Here’s another example. Instead of saying, “Since your approach didn’t work, why don’t you try this instead,” you might say, “I have a thought. May I share it with you?”
Become an Integrated Team Member
To lead, you need not be the leader of a project or an organization. You can become an integrated member of a team by adopting the business collaboration tips listed above. Just as one negative person can change the tone of a project, so can the influence of one positive person. Your efforts will make you invaluable to any team and lead to much greater success.