You're in a team meeting and everyone's ideas are flowing freely. Each person’s leveraging unique skills and perspectives, and the result is a well-rounded solution you're all excited about.
That's effective collaboration.
Most teams don’t work this way on a good day. Coworkers disagree, leaders micromanage, and confident individuals share freely while shy teammates keep quiet.
But putting in the work is worthwhile for both team leaders and employees. A TeamStage study found that effective communication generates 4.5 times higher talent retention, and 37% of employees said collaborative work is important.
It’s no wonder improving team collaboration — both personally and as a group — takes learning several skills, such as effective communication and active listening, and requires real-world practice.
What’s team collaboration?
Team collaboration involves several individuals working together to achieve a common goal, directly or across departments.
Direct teams are people you work with daily, like your manager and department coworkers. Cross-over teams involve colleagues from other departments, or you may even collaborate temporarily with teams from other companies, such as contractors or agencies.
While team collaboration involves teamwork, the terms aren’t synonymous. Both involve working together, but team collaboration centers around creating something new.
Teams work together constantly to complete daily tasks or solve client problems, for example — and they sometimes collaborate to produce something novel, like developing a new app or creating a marketing campaign.
Why’s collaboration important?
Collaboration produces better work, increasing revenue and employee satisfaction. Here are a few more reasons to improve your collaboration skills:
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Better problem-solving: Diverse teams perform better, as more perspectives provide innovative and novel ideas. An unsolvable problem to you might be a piece of cake to a coworker.
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Better knowledge sharing: Collaborating on projects means learning from teammates’ experiences and skills as you watch them talk out and tackle problems in real-time. Knowledge sharing also improves team performance, as everyone works with the most up-to-date information.
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A more trusting environment: Collaborative teams encourage trust in two ways: every teammate trusts others will work hard and meet their obligations, and teammates can lean on each other when they’re struggling or take a sick day.
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Increased visibility: Collaborating on work with others increases your visibility within the organization, so you might get noticed for a promotion or upper management and gain opportunities to work on other interesting projects. Working in a bubble decreases the chance you’ll be noticed for opportunities like these.
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Higher employee satisfaction: Employees who collaborate are 17% more satisfied with their jobs. Contributing to shared goals feels meaningful — you get to play to your strengths and celebrate milestones together.
How can I improve my team collaboration skills?
Improving collaboration isn’t just about workplace success — you’ll also enjoy personal growth by working on the following eight elements:
1. Active listening
Show your engagement and interest in your teammates’ ideas by using active listening techniques such as mirroring body language and asking clarifying questions.
Instead of waiting for your chance to share your thoughts or assert expertise, you’ll encourage fresh perspectives and effective collaboration. You’ll also give more shy individuals the opportunity they need to express themselves.
2. Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence involves understanding your emotions well enough to recognize them in others. This knowledge encourages empathy — you can relate to your coworker’s frustration and won’t escalate the situation. Instead, you might suggest a compromise.
Increased empathy also allows you to connect with your team members more deeply. Use meditation or journaling to practice self-awareness, empathy, and self-regulation and build your emotional intelligence.
3. Inclusivity
Create a welcoming and inclusive environment so everyone feels safe to share their ideas and help problem-solve. To do this, you could practice mindfulness to address biases and actively seek diverse perspectives to nuance your understanding of a given situation and make better decisions.
That way, you’ll be more likely to respect everyone’s thoughts and encourage quieter employees to speak up.
4. Flexibility
Because collaboration involves diverse perspectives combining to accomplish a shared goal, you must be flexible at work. Coworkers might not choose your idea — and that’s okay because the outcome you’re all working toward is bigger than you.
Take 10 deep breaths when something unexpected or disappointing happens, like if a timeline gets adjusted or the team dynamic shifts.
5. Clear communication
Clear communication involves actively listening to your coworkers and effectively sharing and receiving ideas and feedback. This also entails figuring out the best communication methods for different scenarios.
Brainstorming sessions are likely best in-person or on a video call with a shared virtual whiteboard, and email’s great for a question you expect the person will need time to answer.
6. Conflict resolution
Conflict is inevitable in collaborative settings where people with diverse opinions and communication styles mix. Develop conflict resolution skills to embrace clashes as moments of growth and learning.
Your best solution could result from a more confrontational conversation. Try practicing active listening, empathy, and a willingness to compromise to work on your conflict resolution skills.
7. Gratefulness
A great way to embrace fresh perspectives, develop empathy, and take criticism gracefully is by practicing gratitude.
If you feel thankful for your coworkers’ opinions and critical feedback because they introduce ideas you hadn’t considered or bring your attention to a shortcoming you’d like to improve, you’ll be less likely to feel defensive.
One way to foster a grateful attitude is to start each day by writing down five workplace-related things you’re thankful for. Try to think of five new things each day to expand your capacity for gratitude.
8. Growth mindset
Having a growth mindset means opening yourself up to learning new things and seeking personal growth opportunities, even if they’re daunting and outside your comfort zone.
This is the opposite of a fixed mindset, where you avoid challenges, dismiss criticism, or give up quickly. Developing a growth mindset helps you get more value out of your experiences — even the difficult or uncomfortable ones, like making mistakes.
Learning the benefits of team collaboration and practicing these eight skills already shows you’re willing to expand your mind. Take this into workplace collaboration by encouraging others to share opinions and asking for feedback.
Changing your perspective on failure is another great way to develop a growth mindset. Even the best athletes fail throughout their careers. A silver medal still counts as a win, and a resilient mindset acknowledges that. Embrace the inevitability of not meeting your expectations to learn something valuable from every experience.
Team collaboration best practices
Encouraging collaboration isn’t easy — especially if you struggle with teamwork yourself. Here are some great ways to ease team collaboration hiccups:
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Establish expectations: Before collaboration begins, outline project expectations. This includes the expected communication cadence and clear roles and responsibilities.
Who reports what information? How often are reports shared? What should they include? Align team expectations with regular meetings to discuss progress and encourage open communication.
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Use team collaboration software: Collaboration software can range from specialized project management tools to communication platforms for instant messaging (like Slack or Microsoft Teams). Choose the best-suited tool for your needs and ensure everyone understands how to use it and for what situations.
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Foster trust and respect: Employees can only communicate openly and creatively if they trust their teammates and feel their opinions are respected. Foster this environment by finding value in every opinion — even if it’s not ideal for the situation — and encouraging coworkers to speak up.
Build trust by being there for your teammates when they’re overwhelmed by their workload or going through something difficult at home.
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Set agile timelines: Timelines make project tracking easier and increase employee motivation. But for collaborative work, they must be flexible and consider roadblocks. Set clear timelines for yourself or the team and share them with everyone, noting any challenges you anticipate and what you’ll do.
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Continuously evaluate progress: Collaborative projects involve many moving parts, so set metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) from the start to track success without getting distracted by the chaos.
Remember to celebrate your milestones — a nice dinner after achieving a particularly challenging KPI might be just what your team needs to keep going.
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Accommodate everyone’s collaboration style: Collaboration doesn’t look one way. Ask your teammates how they handle teamwork best. This could be part of the onboarding process or done before a collaborative project begins.
Some might feel most comfortable asking managers to bring their ideas to the team. Others might collaborate best with three people max.
Better together
Team collaboration allows coworkers to share knowledge, complement each others’ skill sets, and problem-solve more creatively. If you practice collaboration skills like conflict management and active listening, you’ll enjoy collaborative work more and improve the experience for others.
Effective collaboration isn’t only valuable in the workplace. Take what you’ve learned here and use it in other settings, like at home or with friends. Most activities are better together. Enjoy collaborating and knowing you’re seeing the best possible results.
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