Let's Talk About The Importance of Promoting Collaboration

Companies often talk about the importance of collaboration, but do they really know how to promote it? It’s something that can make or break your business. Without proper communication, a lot of information gets lost and things fall through. Lack of collaboration causes huge failures in the workplace.

Promoting collaboration isn't as easy as it sounds. Just trying to get information across departments is hard enough, let alone different office locations. Some people might think that collaboration isn’t as important with all the information we have at our fingertips, but this simply isn’t true.

As working from home becomes more common, collaborating with coworkers can seem more difficult than ever. Luckily, this doesn't have to be the case. There are so many ways to easily promote collaboration within your company.

Host team building activities

Who doesn’t love some fun at work? Teaching employees to rely on one another in a competitive setting is a great way to start promoting collaboration.

Whether it's a specific sport or a blind-folded obstacle course, make it so your team will have to work together to achieve a goal. Afterwards, they will be able to bring these teamwork skills into the office. And it’s not limited to physical activities.

Problem solving games are another great way for everyone to put their minds together towards a common goal. Things like scavenger hunts, escape the room experiences and puzzles are great ways to enable team building without having to get too sweaty.

Activities like these could assist people with creating bonds in and outside of the office. When employees have relationships outside of work, it enhances collaboration and trust, which makes them more productive.

Lead by example

Whether you're an exec, manager or mentor, the people that work under you are more likely to do something after seeing you do it. It takes more than just encouraging collaboration - you actually have to put it into action yourself. That's what all great leaders do.

Focus on creating strong relationships with everyone in the office, regardless of their department. Show how important it is to collaborate with many different people to reach your goals. Your employees will take notice, see how much it helps, then start to do the same.

If you want your employees to use a certain collaboration tool, you should be taking full advantage of it. Use technology to your advantage, and everyone else will follow! That brings me to my next point on promoting collaboration…

Invest in the right tools

To stay connected in a world where workers are increasingly spread out, your business should utilize the right tools to keep everyone in touch, no matter where they are!

Using cloud platforms will help people communicate across departments and the globe in an instant. They will be able to build on existing relationships as well as create new ones, regardless of location.

Think about how easy it is to collaborate using file-sharing apps like Google Docs, rather than having to send emails back and forth and hope you're working on the latest version of something. The same goes for communication - instant messaging and video chat applications can be a nice alternative to the phone. P.S. - all of these are great tools, but, it really helps to have all these options in one place .😉

It is so easy to share files, communicate and build relationships using technology. And the cloud keeps it all in one place, making it even easier.

Celebrate relationships

Being rewarded for doing the right things will obviously influence people to keep it up. If you celebrate and promote collaboration, you are showing your employees that you value it. Collaboration and communication should be something that you strongly value and encourage.

Sponsoring group events is a way to encourage people to build real relationships that go beyond the office. Things like weekend networking events and web conferences for people with common interests will inspire people to get to know one another and to create real bonds.

Employees that consider themselves more than just a team have much better collaboration. In return, they are proven to be much more successful.

To Wrap-Up

Studies have confirmed that collaborative teams perform five times better because they feel more motivated.

Like being on a sports team, the energy you get from working towards the same goal makes you want to work harder to reach that goal. Seems simple enough.

Clearly, promoting collaboration in the office is in the best interest of your employees, and your company as a whole. I know I prefer to work with people I get along with, who wouldn’t?