8 Ways to Build Collaborative Teams at Workplace
Finding workplaces that exemplify teamwork is almost equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. Organizations are known to structure their reward systems on individual performances and contributions, and thus inadvertently elbow out teamwork in its entirety.
Notwithstanding the current system of recognizing individual performance and progress over team performance, businesses need to realize that collaboration is the only path forward for businesses. Individual development and achievement can achieve only so much for organizational growth. So, to accelerate growth, companies need to shift gears and focus on collaboration at all levels.
Here I walk you through 8 ways to build collaborative teams at the workplace:
1. Make Teamwork a Company Norm
Let’s admit it! Individual performance trumps team performance in organizations these days. Simply put, businesses love to recognize employees who go the extra mile to satisfy client requirements.
Sure, there’s nothing wrong with this approach, more so, when employees are inspired to punch above their weight when the organization appreciates their efforts and rewards them.
But then, it’s better off for organizations to bet on team performance over individual performance because the latter approach makes the whole team work committed toward company goals over personal goals.
Not surprisingly, businesses have started realizing the benefits of appraising teams and not individuals and consequently working toward building a cohesive work culture. And, with millennials joining the workforce, teamwork is acquiring a new definition. Millennials are known to fit into teamwork setting quickly, and so are people from Generation Z.
So, with four generations working side by side at workplaces — baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Generation Z — and with expectations of each generation being different, it’s the best time in history to build a teamwork culture you desire in the organization.
Sure, it won’t be easy — bringing people of four different generations to look at things from the same lens. However, with commitment and respect for each other’s value, you will be able to create and promote an overall sense of teamwork in your organization. Check out top curated list of collaboration software to ensure employees are on the same page during different stages of the project.
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2. Marshal a “Mentoring Culture”
As it turns out, the senior leaders are responsible for establishing a “mentoring culture” in the organization. Simply put, it’s the senior teams’ approach toward mentoring and coaching, which will rub off on other employees of the organization. Seniors should encourage formal mentoring backed by clear-cut goals and responsibilities, and, if time permits, they should make mentoring a part of their daily routine.
Mentoring on a day-to-day basis helps establish a cooperative culture between junior and senior employees. Mentors should think of contributing value without thinking about what they’ll receive in return. They should never think of their interest and only have the best interests of the employee and the company in mind.
At GoodFirms, our CEO follows an open door policy, and you will always find him standing alongside our managers offering suggestions, updating them about the latest tech trends, and more than anything else, arming them with competitor info. Not surprisingly, this sort of day to day mentoring has had a ripple effect: Managers have taken up day to day mentoring as part of their profile in our company.
3. Shepherd Both Task and Relationship-oriented Leadership
Is your organization’s leadership style task-oriented or relationship-oriented? Think about it! Academics and senior managers are already thinking about it and have mixed feelings about the same. Some managers believe that relationship-oriented leadership is appropriate because people love to share knowledge in an environment of trust and confidence. On the other hand, others argue that task-orientation is the best form of leadership. That is the ability to have clear objectives about the task at hand, and at the same time, monitoring and offering feedback.
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, productive teams are best at both task and relationship. The best part, though, is that these leaders are flexible enough to incorporate changes as and when circumstances changed. For instance, in the early stages, they were utterly task-oriented. It was all about goals, commitments and responsibilities, and so forth. As time progressed, they switched over to relationship-based leadership. This happens once the team has a clear idea about their goals and the role they’ll play in it; however, are having second thoughts when it comes to sharing knowledge with peers.
4. Take Advantage of Employee’s Strengths
Every team member has his or her strengths and weakness. So it’s a good idea to focus on their strengths, rather than their weakness. You can take advantage of a personality test such as the Myers-Briggs and then hold a team meeting to share the results of such tests.
This can prove to be a great bonding exercise, as employees will get to know each other more closely, especially in terms of their strength, which could be useful to achieve team goals. That way, you will be able to help your team perform to the best of their abilities and, at the same time, make them feel empowered as well.
5. Make “Sharing” a Norm
In Buddhism, there’s a concept called Ubuntu that says: A person is a person through other persons.” If you have a piece of bread, it’s for your benefit to share it with others. In short, share your lunches with your teammates. Also, celebrate small and big milestones by throwing up team lunches, by holding team excursions, among other things.
Further, learn to share positive, personal stories of high performing teammates with others.
Furthermore, make sure to weave employee reward and recognition events around inspiring stories that highlight the unique contributions made by employees. Plus, you can also present a small memo to the employee with his or her greatness story imprinted on it.
6. Build Cross-functional Work Groups
To build trust and cohesion among employees of different departments such as sales, marketing, finance, and more, you could think of creating cross-functional groups that work toward a common goal. For example, if an individual is good at designing posters and the other at promoting them on different social media platforms, these two individuals could be brought together to make a success of your social media or email campaigns.
Cross-functional work groups help people to learn from each other and also see for themselves how their core responsibilities contribute to different aspects of the business and the overall success of the team.
7. Challenge Status Quo
Teams should be encouraged to hold brainstorming sessions from time to time to help them overcome challenges with a can-do attitude, which, in turn, would help them live up to can-do expectations. It’s also important to invite team members to share their thoughts and ideas regularly. These kinds of initiatives will help employees bond with their managers and leaders, which, in turn, would make them feel more motivated to perform and even surpass company expectations. There are tools that let you conduct non-project specific conversations and they have a dedicated space for the same too.
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8. Socialize Outside Workplace
We lead super busy lives these days and so the thought of a corporate event, or something only adds to our stressed lives. However, socializing with coworkers is a different ball game altogether. It acts as an ice-breaker for new employees, opens channels of communication for old employees, and develops a better understanding between all the employees. Team members get to learn about each other’s common interests and also the issues they are wrestling. This will help the team fight individual biases and stereotyping. Socializing will help see our team members as more human, which will make it more difficult for us to point fingers at them.
Wrapping up
There you have it! Eight tips for building a collaborative team at the workplace. If you follow the above approaches and heed to employee feedback, you will surely get to see positive results in the long term.
Author Bio: This is Jennifer Warren, staff writer at GoodFirms — a review and research platform for top eCommerce development companies, digital marketing companies, web development companies among many others. You can find more about her on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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