Is your startup company reaping the rewards of successful collaboration?
Collaboration in the workplace can lead to a 10% improvement in productivity and this might result in a tenfold increase in revenue.
When you have a long to-do list, finding time to discuss and collaborate with other peers can be difficult. However, it's critical to emphasise cross-team communication if you want to take your company ahead.
That is why continuously improving collaboration needs to be an essential part of the great startup culture you should be trying to build at the office. And if you want to learn how you can do that, take a look at the handpicked tips below.
Being a good leader means leading by example. So maybe sometimes you should show your staff how something is done if you want them to collaborate more.
Children aren't the only ones who can pick up on other people's actions. Even people in the workplace want to learn from their bosses' activities.
So, don't just speak the talk. Instead, walk the walk. In the workplace, look for opportunities to collaborate with juniors.
For instance, if you have a problem that needs to be solved, gather two or three employees in a roundtable and ask them to assist you in finding a solution.
The answer you come up with as a group should be the one you implement. It would be a waste of time if you came to a decision as a group but then decided to go down a different path on your own.
Not only will you lose your employees' trust, but you'll also jeopardise your efforts to create a collaborative environment.
You have to make sure that every employee has the ability to speak up or write about what they deem important. In other words, you need to make sure that the voice of employee is always heard.
It may sound too obvious that people must discover their voice, but this is far more difficult for companies than it appears. Most people in most businesses don’t actively participate in team or organisational conversations for a variety of reasons. The fundamental issue here is that they don’t believe they have anything valuable to offer.
Regardless, you need to recognise that everyone has a unique contribution to make and that there’s a need to help people with articulating, shaping, and sharing what they know and think.
Furthermore, your company is losing out if your employees’ voices cannot be heard.
Organisations compete not just on the basis of their employees, but also on how these people collaborate in teams, networks, and communities, i.e. on the basis of their employees' social capital, not merely on the basis of each individual's human capital.
Employee voice allows people to connect over the content they find interesting and build communities of interest, resulting in the generation of new knowledge.
Some people are inherently gifted at collaborating with others, but some are not. And that means that you have to be careful when hiring.
When it comes to hiring, you want to avoid people who don't work well in a team setting. Sure, you can teach or even require employees to interact, but if your workforce is primarily made up of people who like to work alone, there's only so much collaborative output you can produce.
Don't only look at what they've listed on their resumes when hiring team members who excel at cooperation. Inquire about their problem-solving skills. If a person's method of problem-solving includes consulting with other team members, they're likely to be strong at collaboration.
Employees should be engaged from the start. Begin with eagerness and inquiry rather than boring PowerPoints and paperwork.
Pair employees with a mentor to help them get to know their coworkers. Create a strong first impression to familiarise them with a favorable culture.
Allowing employees to work from home is another approach to boost engagement. Allow employees to work from a more comfortable location, reducing commute and traffic time while also improving responsibility.
Greater flexibility can sometimes lead to higher levels of involvement, and this is how those running the show behind closed doors can help your company even more.
According to various studies, 66% of employees will leave their positions if they feel undervalued. This number rises to 76% among Millennials.
Employees begin to go elsewhere if a leader or company doesn’t value them or if they are unable to leverage their particular skill sets. And a successful team can only expand if each team member can contribute with their particular set of abilities.
In a collaborative work environment, make sure to capitalise on each individual's strengths. When building a team, it's critical to focus on each person's unique skills and how they fit into the essential roles and duties.
You may expand on this by having everyone take a skill test and then sharing the results with the rest of the group.
As you can see, collaboration improvement is a never-ending process. The importance of forming a cohesive team cannot be overstated.
It is often that collaboration either makes or breaks a startup company. So, increase your chances of success by investing in collaboration from day one.