To do a good job - we need collaboration both within teams but also cross teams, and with external stakeholders. COVID has changed the way we show up to work and more companies have moved to a hybrid, and sometimes fully remote work model.
Achieving effective collaboration in the workplace is an ongoing process, and it is not always easy.
This is particularly true as we return to the office after full WFH. You may find that the departments in your business have become siloed from each other. Or an excessive number of unproductive meetings may have become the norm as everyone worked to stay in the know while remote.
Investing in the latest technology and tools is an easy way to improve productivity and collaboration in your team. It should be an essential part of any collaboration strategy.
There are several styles of workplace collaboration you may use in your business. Most people will use all of them in their work life, and each method overlaps with the others to some degree.
Here are some key types of workplace collaboration you probably already use, depending on the project you’re working on or the goal you’re heading towards:
Open discussions pull employees from different seniority levels and departments together. They share their thoughts and ideas on how to solve problems or improve things in the organisation.
This style of collaboration helps more junior staff feel valued, and gives creative ideas a chance to come from all levels of the business. It also encourages discussion and professional relationships between team members who may not usually cross paths.
This form of collaboration brings together a specific set of employees for a specific goal. Examples include senior management discussing the business’s financial progress, or the Design team coming together for a WIP meeting.
This style puts the emphasis on the right people being involved in relevant meetings, to minimise the number of meetings people are in every day. These meetings are also great for confidential or sensitive information, or to discuss a particularly significant event.
Brainstorming brings people together specifically to generate ideas and creative solutions. For example, a marketing team might brainstorm a new marketing campaign, or the Culture team might meet to discuss the end-of-year party theme.
Brainstorming sessions can be a creative free-for-all. They bring together ideas and strategy from a wide range of people, giving everyone an equal platform to contribute.
Cross-functional collaboration brings employees from different departments and specialties together to work on overlapping projects. For example:
This type of collaboration ensures alignment across all teams and highlights each person’s specific skills. When done well, it ensures everyone’s work complements each other’s for the best final result.
This form of collaboration brings together people with multiple, specific skill sets to achieve one goal. Mixed-skilled teams help employees learn from each other, while relying on each other’s strengths to complete projects.
A popular example is a standard marketing department. A marketing team may include:
All of them work towards a common end goal together.
Another version of a mixed-skill team combines different sorts of ‘thinkers’. It deliberately pulls a creative thinker, an analytical thinker and a strategic thinker together to achieve the best result on a project.
With hybrid working, many of these forms of collaboration can be done virtually. However, virtual collaboration is considered a model of collaboration in its own right.
It involves teams that are partly or fully working remotely, and it relies on technology and the right telecommunication software to succeed. It requires clear communication and frequent check-ins to ensure remote workers stay engaged and up to speed with the team’s goals or initiatives.
There has been a significant cultural shift in what ‘collaboration’ means over the last few decades. It used to mean all relevant parties working alongside each other, within the exact limits of their roles.
Now it means the ways every team or individual can use their skills to strengthen the group and the project results by working together well.
This shift is largely due to the rapid transformation of technology. For example, data is now embedded in collaboration tools for anyone to access and understand. It no longer just sits with data specialists to interpret and act on.
This sort of technology encourages a deeper understanding of what makes projects tick, and helps every member of staff perform better. For example, Nura Space workplace management technology gives you data analysis and insights about your team's patterns and behaviours. This helps support better collaboration and improve employee engagement.
With this greater level of transparency, data can fuel collaboration at key points in the process.
The other huge pivot for collaboration has been the move from solely in-office work to hybrid and remote working. Teams have had to adjust to not always being able to gather in person to work on projects. They have also had to learn to work together via video chat and written threads.
Transparency over who is in the office, and when, can help teams coordinate to meet whenever works best for them.
Encouraging and supporting collaboration in the workplace is key to building a happy, healthy working culture. With 86% of employees believing that a lack of collaboration in the workplace can lead to workplace failures, it’s important to support productive collaboration.
Teams that collaborate well let employees share their ideas and learn how their colleagues think, work and operate. This helps them learn from each other and build on their strengths. Collaboration benefits both the company and the employees.
Poor workplace collaboration can have a domino effect of issues throughout the business. Here are just some of the problems that can arise from poor collaboration, and how to avoid them.
If people are struggling to collaborate effectively, it may be due to communication difficulties. Good communication pathways are essential to success. Problems range from little things, like emails getting lost in the depths of an inbox, to big ones, like misunderstanding the goal of the project.
You can help your staff avoid poor communication by giving them programs and spaces to talk in. Instant messaging programs like Slack or Teams can give teams a central point for casual discussions. Regular meetings can keep everyone on the same page.
A lack of efficient collaboration can lead to teams working in circles and redoing work unnecessarily. In a hybrid workplace without a unified working platform, staff may also waste time trying to find each other in the office.
Giving your team the resources to organise where and when to meet and collaborate will help reduce wasted time. A technology like Nura Space helps teams quickly locate each other, or book meeting rooms or desks together. That way, no time is wasted wandering around the office trying to find each other.
If your team isn’t working well together, it can throw out deadlines and schedules. Poor collaboration may mean work is not getting done as quickly as expected. Or there may be confusion about who owns which tasks, due to a lack of communication and understanding.
This makes project management incredibly difficult. It adds extra strain on project managers, the staff, and potentially the clients or customers.
Regularly touching base, through things such as Stand Ups or Work In Progress meetings, keeps everyone on the same page and makes collaboration easier. Project planning software where everyone can see the workflow expectations can also help the team collaborate effectively.
A lack of collaboration can lead to inefficiencies and shortfalls in the work being produced. Teams that aren’t cohesive will work more slowly and may have disjointed goals and results. The final product may not be the best work possible.
Providing suitable spaces for teams to meet and collaborate efficiently can help reduce this. With Nura Space smart insights, you can optimise your office for the highest level of productivity and collaboration.
Poor collaboration begins a dangerous cycle of poor communication, leading to low morale. Underperforming teams, or teams who don’t feel connected and able to work together, produce lower quality work. They can also become disengaged from their role and the company.
Encouraging staff connection and wellness can help keep staff morale up. Being able to touch base with staff, both in person and remotely with telecommunication programs, will help stop this cycle.
Modern workplaces and new ways of working need strong, purpose-built technology to keep teams cohesive and collaborative. Nura Space offers a variety of organisation, analytics and wellness features. These help you maintain a happy workforce that can collaborate successfully to produce great results.
If you’d like to hear more about how Nura Space can help optimise your office, we’d love to chat with you.
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