Strategies For Effective Team Collaboration
Teams of all kinds have found that effective team collaboration can build trust, open communication, and foster an inclusive environment. Encouraging team collaboration can be hard when teams don’t have the proper leadership and collaboration skills.
Building your team’s collaboration skills seems easy enough, but under the surface, there’s a lot that goes into it. It can be even harder for team leaders that lack leadership skills to implement and navigate a collaborative workshop or develop a team’s collaborative efforts.
In facilitating team workshops, I’ve helped teams develop essential skills that empower members and invite cohesive idea generation. Keep reading to discover what skills your team needs to collaborate effectively.
Benefits of Team Collaboration
Team collaboration is an essential component to growing your team’s skills and working together to achieve a common goal. If you’re still unsure about developing team collaboration, then consider the benefits collaboration will have for you and your team’s success.
For one, collaboration allows individuals to learn from one another. Each member of the team has a unique skillset and background. When team members learn how to collaborate effectively, they can share their ideas and skillsets and draw on the expertise of others. This learning helps team members develop new skills which will improve the team’s overall performance.
As well, teams that collaborate are able to find better solutions for problems in a shorter amount of time. Sometimes, we hold back from saying something because we’re afraid that our ideas will not be accepted, sound stupid, or be judged. Having an open and collaborative environment sparks new ideas and encourages team members to share their unique perspectives.
An open and collaborative environment increases the volume and quality of communication throughout the team. Teams that trust each other and feel comfortable collaborating are more likely to open up when they have something to say. An issue or complaint can be addressed and quickly resolved when team members feel heard and valued.
If your team struggles to meet deadlines, doesn’t communicate well with each other, or lacks essential skills needed to get their work done, then you may need to work on developing your team’s ability to collaborate.
How To Improve Team Collaboration
The key to effective team collaboration comes from within the team itself. While there are team collaboration best practices that successful leaders use to better prepare teams to work together, the best collaboration comes from coaching the internal resources of your team.
Use these collaboration techniques to improve your team’s performance and ability to effectively collaborate:
1. Design and prepare for collaboration
To set you and your team up for success, make time to design and prepare for the collaboration process. Having a structure in place for collaboration and desired outcomes will help set a clear path forward. When the team leader is prepared, the rest of the team can feel confident that there is a goal and final destination that they should all collaboratively be working towards.
2. Set a shared goal for the team
Make sure you and your team are on the same page by collectively setting the goal for what you want to get out of team collaboration. Instead of dictating the goal, leaders should ask for feedback on important goals to increase engagement and ownership from the team. When your team chooses a goal themselves, everyone has a shared idea of what they are working towards and improving and are more likely to collaborate towards the desired outcome.
3. Highlight team member strengths
Team members recognized for their strengths and accomplishments will feel appreciated and more fulfilled with their work environment. Acknowledging your team member’s abilities also gives you and your team an idea of where they can excel and help other members who don’t have the same level of expertise in a particular area.
4. Encourage honest feedback and avoid unproductive criticism
The next strategy you can use to improve your team’s collaboration skills is to foster an environment that encourages open and effective feedback among the team. Your team’s ability to collaborate and communicate may suffer if members don’t feel comfortable sharing their ideas and opinions. Avoid criticism that doesn’t improve outcomes, and instead focus on quality feedback that brings meaningful change.
Build Your Team’s Collaboration Skills With A Team Coach
Building collaborative teamwork skills can be hard to do on your own, especially if you don’t even know where to begin. A team workshop is a great way to build your team’s skills by bringing in a third-party facilitator to help construct and navigate an effective team collaboration workshop.
In facilitating team collaboration workshops, I’ve helped develop essential skills that empower team members and invite idea generation. I also offer team coaching that helps build communication and effective skills tailored to your team’s specific needs.
If you’re ready to know more about how team collaboration can help you and your team, let's talk about bringing in a facilitator to help.