According to recent research, companies in which there is great communication and collaboration enjoy a 50% higher chance of retaining staff – which makes clear just how important this element is to your business’s ethos. On top of this, over a third of Millenials, when searching for new roles, actively look for companies that deploy excellent communication processes and spaces.
Great collaboration is good for your business and great for your employees, too: better office communication is linked to higher levels of staff well-being and motivation.
With this in mind, adopting strategies designed to promote effective, healthy team collaboration in your office is clearly a great idea – and it’s easier than you think! Here are the tips you need to get your team working smarter and happier than ever before.
Get Really Clear About Roles
One of the major bugbears in teams – especially remote or hybrid models – is when situations arise where no one is really clear about what everyone else is doing. This can lead to duplication of work, poor levels of productivity, and even resentments, where some employees feel they’re shouldering more of the burden of work than others.
To prevent this, have an initial joint meeting where everyone’s role and responsibilities are clearly explained. Going forward, ensure that when tasks are delegated in relation to a project, each team member understands how their work fits into the overall task and the relevant interdependencies.
Deploy Digital Solutions to Enhance Communication
Great collaboration is the result of great communication, and there is a range of high-functioning and affordable digital solutions that can help with this. Look for team collaboration apps that’ll allow your team members to easily voice call, video conference, and message for seamless workflow and to keep the lines of communication open and operating optimally.
Choose a project management platform, email client, or suite of digital software that’s been designed to promote healthy communication and get your team working together on the same page – and perfectly!
Create Fun Team-Building Opportunities
Encouraging your team to enjoy some relaxed social time together and the space to do so is a great way to support natural collaboration. Whether this is in the form of regular team building days, bi-weekly virtual coffee mornings, a monthly team lunch out, or a weekly video quiz night, the opportunities are endless!
You could also consider offering team rewards and prizes – with different departments vying against others – to help generate a stronger team spirit!
Resist Micromanaging
It can be extremely tempting to micromanage every aspect of a task and to frequently check in with your employees to check how things are going. If possible, resist this – while, of course, it’s important to make sure your team is well supported and has everything they need to do their job, stepping back and allowing your employees to work together can have a galvanizing effect on morale and help strengthen the collaborative spirit.
Entrusting staff members and empowering them to use their creativity to come up with solutions or innovative new ways of working is also a good way of ensuring your employees feel valued and that they have a stake in the project being undertaken.
Guard Against Burnout
Making certain that your team members have ample opportunity and space to take their designated breaks is crucial for building healthy communication and collaboration. An exhausted team is one that won’t be running optimally in any sense. If you have outdoor space available, creating a relaxing outside area is likely to serve you and your staff very well: research has shown that spending time in a pleasant, well-designed outdoor space can boost staff morale and lower rates of both absenteeism and staff turnover.
If you have remote team members, then guarding against burnout is even more important: homeworkers are particularly liable to working way beyond their designated hours, not taking sufficient breaks, and checking emails, etc., on their days off. Encourage these members of your team to have a clear cut-off point in terms of the working day and to not log onto their work accounts during their days off. Help them out further by not messaging during these days!
Plan Great Team Meetings
Meetings are the bane of many employees’ lives. However, if planned well and held sparingly, they can be a great, inspiring space that promotes healthy collaborative practices across your entire enterprise. One of the key ways to prevent Meeting Blur is to not schedule too many, to keep their duration to no more than an hour, and to only invite the necessary employees.
Having a well-thought-out agenda is crucial: every point included in it should have a purpose and lead to actionable points assigned to a specific staff member.
The Takeaway
Creating a culture of effective, healthy collaboration in your workplace is easier than you may think – just a few little changes could make all the difference to your business’s productivity, profit margin, and level of staff morale. Use the list above for inspiration on the steps to take to get your team communicating and working together spectacularly in 2023!