Top 9 Effective Strategies to Build Collaborative Teams
TechsPlace | Simple teamwork of a few talented individuals together cannot guarantee a stellar performance. The absence of flawless collaboration in the team affects not only the productivity of the organization but also deflates employee morale up to 33%. Workplace statistics quote that 39% of employees grieve the absence of collaboration in their team. Today, firms are leveraging the attributes of task management tools to better the quality of their team performance. After all, online task management tools are reported to scale up productivity by 30%. Digital workplaces and online collaboration software are being used by 83% of the employees to outshine their productivity performance in their collaborative teams.
But are digital tools the only way to achieve team collaboration? What are the other successful remedies for building collaborative teams? Let’s explore.
Invest in task management tool or collaboration tool
Online collaboration tools are believed to improve the team’s productivity by 30%. Although 83% of the employees find this digital shift a challenge for them, this hurdle is a trifle in return for the perks attached to it. Using digital workplace transformation tools and team collaboration apps have become an integral part of the routine workspace so much that 82% of the professionals cannot imagine their professional life devoid of technological help. The presence of exclusive task management tools like Loom for video communication, Google Drive for sharing documents, Asana for project management, and High Tail for file sharing have simplified the most complex tasks to a larger extent.
Have reward and gifting culture
Having recognition programs for team members is a successful means of building a collaborative team in the organization. When the success of the team is measured and rewarded, the organization gets known for its employee-friendly culture and the values of the company also get upraised. Employers make use of traditional employee appraisal metrics and focus on individual success, especially for team members who might not feel like being part of the team. The hard work of the entire team and all its team members should be acknowledged and appraised publically.
Executive support
The philosophy of the top executives of the organization is the key determinant of the success rate of any team. Teams perform productively when they have the complete support of their senior executives. By good executive support for effective team collaboration, we mean supportive social relationships, simultaneous preach and practice of collaborative efforts, and replication of signature practices.
Assign the right team leader
A well-collaborated team needs the right team leader to drive the efforts. A good team leader identifies the strength and weaknesses of every team member and then compiles them together to deliver the best results. He empowers the team members to make their own decisions and also guides them throughout the decision-making process. Having a team leader who is both task and result-oriented refines the productivity and profit of the firm, at large. Having an ambidextrous team leader is an unavoidable essential element for a well-collaborated team.
Structured team formation
It’s the makeup and structure of the team that defines the development and management of the team members. Trust is an important component for flawless team collaboration. Therefore, teams that believe in heritage relationships are the ones that are well collaborated and perform much more productively. A cross-functional team with the collective knowledge and skills of its members is easier to collaborate with.
Supervise but don’t intervene
Teams are planned with a certain goal in mind. And all these goals of different teams are aimed at one common goal of the entire organization. Once the individual team members are educated with their respective roles and responsibilities, the seniors should not intervene in their activities every moment. Supervision is good and mandatory but one needs to draw a line of difference between supervision and intervention. Teams require a certain extent of autonomy to streamline their workflow and achieve the targets. Respect their approach.
Promote community working environment
There is no benefit of working toward steam collaboration when the entire work culture of the organization is not conducive to this approach. If the teams are more competitive amongst themselves rather than acting as two arms of the same body, soon the team members too will have a rift amongst them. Therefore, efforts are to be made to avoid the birth of any personal clashes and swipe out any negative behaviors. For this purpose, acknowledge and celebrate every individual’s small or big success publicly.
Clearly define the team goals
Collaboration amongst team members is better when the roles and goals of individual team members are clearly defined. In the absence of such clarity, more time gets wasted in negotiating the responsibilities and acknowledging the accountability. For better collaboration amongst the employees of the organization, the individuals need to invest in mutual trust and well-define the roles and challenges at the individual level.
Encourage clear communication and feedback
One needs to have clear communication and feedback amongst every member of the organization for the long-term happiness of the organization. Truthful and open communication defines the good health of the team. People feel free to share their ideas and feedback with other members. When team members or the seniors are not judgmental about their peers, the employees express their points imprudently, thus feeling more deeply collaborated.
Conclusion
Do you know that the worldwide collaboration market is expected to stand at $59.86 billion by 2023?
An in-depth understanding of the individual’s strengths and weaknesses is the prime advantage of team collaboration. Employers who understand this fact are making use of task management tools and other digital solutions like AI bots and SVPAs to enable effective team collaboration. All of this finally results in elevated revenues and profits apart from better employee satisfaction and talent records.
Annie William is a content cum digital marketer at TaskOPad, a leading Task Management Software. She is an avid reader and likes to remain updated on the latest time management and project management trends. Her articles are informative and interesting at the same time as she can express insightful thoughts clearly.