Collaboration, commonly known as ‘teamwork’, is put into our minds at an early age. We join Little League and work with other kids to complete school projects. We are encouraged to be a team member and to get along with the other members within a collaborative team environment.
As adults, we still work as a collaborative part of a team when we are at work. It’s often a key ingredient to help a business grow. Collaboration is a big part of any business because it’s what works. But what is collaboration? What does it mean? Collaboration, simply put, means working with others to do a task and to achieve shared goals.
Thus, learning how to build a collaborative team environment should be a prioritized goal of any leader.
Here are some strategies for building a Collaborative Team Environment:
Communicate Collaboration
Communicate what your company expects from the team. You should make sure your team members know that collaborating is a minimum standard in your business. Each team member should know their role and responsibilities and understand their position. They need to know what is required of them in their position. When you have a collaborative environment, each team member is individually and collectively responsible for the good the team does.
Collaborate through open communication
Team members should keep communication open among each other. Miscommunication creates hard feelings that can undermine the team’s success. Therefore, each team member should make a concerted effort to make sure he or she is understood and heard. The team should take care of misunderstandings and clear them up quickly.
Set collaborative goals.
Your team should have set goals to work toward. It’s firstly important that each team member set measurable goals on a quarterly or other more frequent bases. Then, have the team focus on these goals. This keeps each member’s efforts aligned with the final desired outcome. Lastly, re-evaluate the goals if needed.
Encourage a collaborative atmosphere
Encourage a creative atmosphere where team members can question and brainstorm without judgment. This will create a safe space to nurture a can-do attitude among the members.
Position team members in favour of collaboration
Leverage team member strengths by putting each member in a position for success in the tasks they do.
Trust the collaboration
Teams should firstly learn to build trust with one another. They should also be honest in their dealings and not talk about each other behind their back. In addition to this, it’s also important for team members to eliminate any conflicts of interest.
Collaborate with diversity
Team members come from diverse walks of life with different perspectives and backgrounds. Each team member should be encouraged to get to know their fellow team members. Follow these simple steps to collaborate with diversity: First of all, consider each idea on its own merits, not the individual suggesting it. Secondly, encourage team members to learn from one another. Above all, avoid and discourage remarks that draw negative attention to a person’s characteristics, no matter how unique.
End result: Collaborative Team Environment
It’s up to each leader to learn how to build a collaborative team environment. Team leaders and managers should inform team members of their roles within the team, as well as expectations. When the company has a positive and well-functioning collaborative team, the business itself runs smoother and people are happier in their jobs.
Activities and Practices That Improve the Strength and Performance of a Team, and creates a Collaborative Team Environment:
To complete projects well, the leader must build the team’s performance and strengths. This is also important for the cohesiveness of the group and the trust each one has in the others. There are several activities and procedures you can use to help your team improve the group’s collaborative strength. These exercises range from games and challenges, involving complex and simple tasks to social activities to encourage team members to build friendly relationships with co-workers.
Collaboration building activities and practices are designed to help individuals discover how they approach problems collaboratively and how the team works together. It helps the group discover better methods of communication and collaboration.
Sports teams have long known that members working together through daily practice, exercise activities and bonding activities improve not only the performance of individual players but the strength and performance of the team as well.
Many leaders use many the same principles to build organisational collaboration team environments.
There are many different types of team building exercises you can implement to encourage and build collaboration:
Communication Exercises
Communication exercises are designed to help teams develop better communication. These are usually a form of problem-solving activities that have members communicating effectively with one another to solve the problem.
Problem-Solving / Decision-Making Exercises
Problem-solving/decision-making exercises focus on the team working together to solve a difficult problem or make complex decisions. These are very common types of team strength-building exercises since it directly links to what a leader expects from a team.
Planning and Adaptability Exercises
Planning and adaptability exercises enable teams to set up plans and to adapt to change during changing conditions.
Trust Exercises
Trust exercises build trust amongst team members and encourage them to trust each other. These are more difficult to implement because of varying degrees of trust among individuals and others in general. However, the subsequent trust well worth it.
Action Learning Exercises
Action learning is a combination of taking action and post-action reflection by the team. During these exercises, the teams solve complex, yet strategic problems in a relevant real-world business setting. Settings may include structural, managerial, logistic, or any other organizational setting. An advantage of this strategy is that the group applies and tests all their existing knowledge and skills. Also, they learn new skills and gain new insights and knowledge by continuing to reflect on and question the problem, the team’s behaviour and the subsequent results.
Action Research Exercises
Action research is the strategy where the team performs research in a specific field to examine a specific question. This is specifically for team members who don’t know what they don’t know. During this exercise, they collect data that could alter the original question, and in the process, they learn unexpected procedures and principles. During this type of exercise, the team is required to keep an open mind and be objective.
Appreciative Inquiry Team-Building Exercise
Appreciative inquiry team-building exercise is an alternative to the traditional type of problem-solving. It emphasizes the participants’ focus on the positive aspects of a situation instead of what is wrong. This exercise encourages team members to share their positive experiences. Team members create and share images of what their preferred future of the team looks like, and then they brainstorm ways to create that vision.
Assessment-Based Learning Activities
Assessment-based learning activities involve team participants taking and completing a test, rating scale or a questionnaire. After completion, they receive a score and feedback on each individual’s character, attitudes, personality traits and personal abilities. We combine individual survey responses to identify the collective opinions or collaborative characteristics of the group.
Consensus Decision-Making Activities
Consensus decision-making activities usually involve a list of 10 items that participants arrange in order of individual priority, and thereafter as a team in consensus. The team compares the list then to an expert’s ranking list. This activity firstly helps team members to build their collaborative decision making strength, and secondly their ability to reach an agreement as a team.
Corporate Adventure Learning Activities
Corporate adventure learning activities involve a challenging physical activity either indoors or outdoors. Activities such as sailing, rafting, rappelling, rock climbing, exploring wilderness areas, or walking on rope bridges have been used in the past. Such activities cause participants to build trust and collective confidence, align their values with each other and that of the organization and learn new skills that will increase their abilities to collaborate towards success.
Other Activities to Build a Collaborative Team Environment
Other types of activities include audio games, board games, card games, computer games and many others, all designed to help teams work together in decision making, collaboration and building trust.
While there are many activities and practices that a leader can employ to improve the strength and performance of a team, ultimately, trust, cohesive work skills and decision-making aptitude begins with individual team members performing the activities and exercises.
Recommended Resource
A very good podcast episode I recently listened to that could add some additional value for leaders who want to influence and improve their teams’ collaboration, was one by renowned leadership influencer and strategist, Michael Hyatt, and his daughter and COO of Michael Hyatt & Co., Megan about 3 Ways to Inspire Your Team. In this post, Michael and Megan recommend leaders to weave four motivational keys into their vision statement to make it more than just clear or practical. According to them, it will motivate any team to jump on board and generate instant momentum toward the future. I strongly encourage you to have a listen:
Empowering Comments Welcome
You are welcome to keep us updated on what you are doing to build a collaborative team environment.
What is working for you, and what is not?
What advice do you have for building a collaborative team environment?
If you prefer audio, there will soon be a podcast version of this post available here: Build a Collaborative Team Environment @ The Safe Life Revolution Podcast
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