Know How to make collaboration easier in 2024
Engage colleagues and employees – get them on board quickly, and build trust and openness. Respect their ideas and input and provide guidance or helpful instructions rather than do’s and don’ts through vertical communication.
Define Success: Create a sense of purpose, and long-term goals employees feel like owning. Encourage personal motivation and passion for success so that completing projects goes beyond the monotony of day-to-day work.
Mutual Accountability: Encourage open communication and a supportive environment that allows coworkers to learn and understand each other’s strengths and values—for example, better work assignments, clear goals, targets, and mutual responsibility.
Reward cooperative behavior: If a group of individuals shows efficient cooperation, it should be rewarded and recognized in the company.
Work in teams and across departments: Some workplace innovations, projects, and goals will greatly benefit from input from mixed groups to encourage productivity and innovation. Managers should promote and organize regular team interactions to encourage open communication, improve cross-team collaboration awareness, and reduce organizational silos. Encourage information sharing to reduce knowledge gaps.
How to Demonstrate Collaboration in the Workplace
Collaborative skills are essential to nearly every workplace, so employers are always looking to hire individuals with strong collaborative skills.
You can improve your collaboration skills in the following areas:
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Communication
Continuously improve your communication and listening skills to express yourself clearly and confidently.
A timely response is essential in any context but is especially important when working closely with other people and departments. A great way to manage expectations is to request a turnaround time for a response.
Minimize acronyms or buzzwords, and proofread your emails and messages to ensure clarity. Request feedback and be contacted if a coworker suggests an improvement.
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Set Deliverables You Can Achieve
Collaborative efforts can only succeed if people have different expectations and views on achieving goals.
Everyone needs to be on the same page regarding goals and deliverables so that all associates feel motivated and accountable. Set goals and periodically check in and see how everything is going.
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Ask for Help
If you feel a task is too much or need help understanding what needs to be accomplished, feel free to ask for support.
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Choose the strategy that best suits your workplace
Organizations may differ in the number of teams/departments and their ability to collaborate within teams/departments. Each group has a unique combination of cultural, organizational, and interpersonal constraints that will affect their collaboration efforts.
Leaders must determine these barriers to collaboration and encourage the behaviors and strategies that work best in a particular organization.
How to Show Collaborative Skills on Your Resume
Collaborative skills are soft skills that are very important to highlight and match to the job description.
- Key personal skills in collaboration include:
- mutual skill
- building trust
- communication
- Reliability
- active listening
- conflict management
- Honesty
- Accountability
- positive attitude
For example, if the job description lists collaboration as a requirement, your resume should include examples of collaboration from previous jobs.
Suppose you have received accolades or recognition for exceptional collaborative practices, such as being a team leader, project leader, or winning a competitive bid as part of your collaborative efforts. In that case, you should include these in your resume.
How To Show Collaborative Skills In An Interview
You must demonstrate your ability to collaborate effectively with others at the interview stage.
When answering questions about your interpersonal skills and past collaborative experiences, provide examples by describing situations where you resolved disagreements, understood diversity, communicated clearly, etc.
Final Thoughts
A collaborative work environment can be beneficial to everyone involved. Developing and maintaining collaborative efforts is challenging, especially in the current climate of remote work.
Businesses face many challenges in encouraging their employees to work collaboratively. There are three main issues: lack of communication, lack of trust, and lack of respect for diversity and individual strengths.
Organizations can foster an environment where collaboration flourishes and succeeds by anticipating how collaborative efforts may fail and taking preventive measures.
A truly collaborative work environment will be happier, more purposeful, and more productive, and profits will reflect that.
