Workplace collaboration is important. Without it, projects are pushed back, team members are unhappy, and creativity gets left behind. All things you want to avoid.
The problem is that improving workplace collaboration isn’t always easy. How do you ensure everyone is on the same page? How do you stop people from clashing over a large-scale project? To get the most out of your employees, promote creativity, and consistently reach goals, use these ten tips for better workplace collaboration.
1: Use Collaboration Software
Technology has made collaboration a lot easier. There are plenty of excellent work-focused software tools out there, just waiting for you to make use of them. Many communications tools, for example, allow staff members to share ideas from wherever they are.
If your workplace uses and produces a lot of content, choose Brandfolder to store all your digital assets. This digital asset management software ensures your team can access and share digital assets quickly and easily, saving the company time while improving collaboration efforts.
2: Make Meetings to the Point
Meetings are important for collaborative work. They can also be a time-waster, though. To make the most out of group meetings, go over what you want to cover beforehand and make them as direct as possible. You could write out a list of goals before you call the team together, for example, and then delegate accordingly during the meeting. If the meeting has a more creative focus, have some questions and ideas to get the ball rolling.
If you spend most of your collaborative time talking about what you’re going to do instead of actually doing it, you only waste time. Be motivated by action rather than words.
3: Know Each Person’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Some people are better at certain tasks than others. That’s a part of life. It helps to know each person’s strengths and weaknesses so that you get the delegation part right. When you can use every team member’s strength, the finished project becomes stronger.
Not sure what people are good at? The answer is simple – ask them. More often than not, people know what they’re good at, and they want to take on work that shows that.
4: Define Goals
It’s hard to reach the end of a group project without knowing the definite goals. Be as specific as you can. You might have an end goal in mind, but what about the smaller targets you need to hit on the way? By knowing where you are heading, everyone can focus on the actual work.
It helps to set deadlines for each goal, too. Even if you don’t always get it done by that time, having a general idea helps keep the team members focused.
5: Don’t Always Strive for Perfection
When you strive for perfection, not a lot gets done. Don’t ask the team to only submit the best work possible. Instead, allow less-than-perfect ideas and work to be submitted. That way, you will be able to move things along. Remember, you can always go back and rework parts of the project!
Of course, that doesn’t mean settling for a poor standard of work. Instead, it means not getting caught up on one idea just because you want it to be perfect. Sometimes, good is good enough!
6: Create a Comfortable Collaborative Environment
If you want to make the most of everyone’s creativity, then you need to provide a great work environment. The meeting room should be spacious, bright, and comfortable. Make sure there’s plenty of room to work, whether that work involves designing art or programming. The better the space is, the more focused team members become. You’ll see more creativity and enthusiasm from everyone when the collaborative environment is comfortable and accommodating.
7: Don’t Avoid Remote Work
You might think that having team members work from home means collaborating is too challenging. Thanks to technology that isn’t the case. You can still collaborate effectively even with each team member in different places, as long as you have access to good communication platforms.
The best part about allowing people to work remotely is that many feel more comfortable working from home, which means they are more productive. Just make sure everyone is focused and present during online meetings.
8: Be Open to New Ideas
Sometimes, a project gets held up because everyone’s too caught up in a bad idea. In this situation, the best route to take is to come up with something new. Be open to fresh, new ideas, and you might find that the project moves along much faster, even if you have to take a few steps back.
Be open to ideas from people who aren’t in charge, too. Let everyone take the space from time to time. When everyone can contribute their knowledge, experience, and creativity, the quality of the project skyrockets.
9: Delegate Specific Tasks
The trick to good collaboration is to let people do their own thing from time to time. Delegate specific tasks to individuals or small groups and watch productivity soar. It’s hard for everyone to work on one section of the project, after all! As long as everyone knows what they are doing, the collaborative project doesn’t always have to involve communication.
10: Celebrate Successes
You want everyone to feel like a team. That doesn’t happen if you focus on the negatives and not the positives, though. Sometimes, the best way to boost productivity and collaboration efforts is to celebrate the successes – no matter how small.
Whether you have secured a new client or come up with an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime website idea, be sure to celebrate as a team. It will bring people together and encourage even more success in the future.
Improving collaboration in the workplace means thinking outside of the box and playing to everyone’s strengths. As long as you communicate effectively, delegate tasks properly, and create an open, comfortable space to work, you are sure to reach goals and achieve huge successes as a team.