Team collaboration is the most important basis for good work results. If there is literally sand in the gears or everyone works for themselves, then the projects suffer. As a leader, you have a significant influence on how well your employees work together. In the following article, we will provide you with ideas that you can use to completely redesign collaboration in your team.
It is important to develop goals together. Take time for a workshop in which a guideline for team collaboration is created. Now terms such as "appreciation" come up, which are important to most team members. The next question is: How do we want to achieve these goals? What specific measures are needed to create appreciative collaboration? After around three to six months, all team members should reflect on how well the team collaboration has worked so far, what is good and what could be improved.
The furnishing of the office lays the decisive foundation for how good team collaboration can succeed. The trend is towards open spaces in which different areas are created for team work, but also for concentrated thinking and work for individuals. There should also be areas for workshops and conferences. So-called "telephone booths" within the office are separate rooms that individual employees can use to make phone calls or during periods of concentration. They are not a visual barrier, but merely an acoustic island that can be used temporarily outside of team collaboration.
Working from home, coworking spaces and working in the cloud: in the 21st century, teams often work together across physical boundaries. The pandemic has also contributed to companies taking the step forward and creating the technical requirements for hybrid team collaboration. It should be defined in advance which tasks can be completed individually and which tasks require a physical meeting. As a guide: the more complex or emotional a topic is, the more likely it is that team collaboration should take place on site.
The majority of all conflicts arise from a lack of clarity about who has which role and where responsibilities lie. It is also important to define clear team rules. There are numerous hurdles to overcome on the way to appreciative, open and successful teamwork. To name just a few:
All these conflicts can only be resolved, or at best prevented, if clear rules for team collaboration are defined in advance. There should be no confusion about responsibilities for individual tasks. As a leader, you have the important task of working out team rules together with the employees. Discuss what telephone and e-mail netiquette you expect from the others and how everyone can be contacted. Is it okay to call on Sunday mornings? Create fixed rituals for cohesion within the team. For example, this could be a daily huddle - virtual or on-site - in which all team members discuss the current project status for a maximum of 15 minutes in the morning. Another frequent potential source of conflict is the question of where the duty to collect and where the duty to provide information lies. Clear rules are the most important prerequisite for good and trusting teamwork.
Would you like to find out more about team collaboration? Then take a look here.