Private company or local authority, on paper, collaborative work is a dream. You will have read it everywhere and heard it around you, collaboration is trending and essential to increase the productivity of your teams.
The benefits of collaborative work for your community are numerous. By working with others and combining different perspectives, skills, and talents, you stimulate creativity and innovation, and you have a better chance of unearthing the best ideas possible.
In reality, the implementation of collaborative work is not always easy and accepted by all. Here are 7 tips to facilitate deployment in communities.
1. Create an environment that is adapted to teamwork.
Collaborative work does not establish itself; it is gradually established thanks to the trust and the good relationships that are created between the members of a team.
To promote collaborative work, it is essential to set up a suitable working environment, both in terms of the layout of the premises and in the mindset of the managers and agents of the community.
The ideal environment for fostering collaborative work should consist of the following elements:
- Open spaces without separation, bright and warm which promote conviviality, proximity and communication between employees.
- Meeting rooms where agents can conduct meetings or brainstorms, but also isolate themselves to concentrate.
- A friendly space for breaks because it is often when employees are chatting more informally over coffee that the best ideas emerge.
2. Ensure that everyone can express themselves.
The aim of collaborative work is to foster creativity and innovation by bringing together people of diverse and varied talents, skills, know-how and experiences. Everyone must be able to express themselves freely to share their ideas and proposals to move the project and the team forward.
However, some personalities who are more timid or introverted than others do not always dare to speak out or think their ideas are not as good as those of others. It’s up to you to encourage them to speak up, to implement their good ideas and to congratulate them on their initiatives. Your employees should feel that you have confidence in them.
3. Establish everyone’s roles.
It’s harder to get down to business when you have no idea what is expected of you. For effective collaboration, it is essential to define the roles and responsibilities of each of your agents in advance.
What do you expect from them as a member of the team? First, it lets everyone know what to do and get to work right away. Secondly, this prevents two agents from working on the same task without knowing it or conversely, a task falling behind because no one has been designated responsible.
4. Define a clear division and precise objectives.
Collaboration is working together to achieve a common goal.
To collaborate effectively and succeed in your projects, your team must have a common vision and one or more specific objectives on which to focus their efforts. Whatever the field of activity, every team has its strengths and weaknesses and must face multiple challenges. However, the best performing teams are those with a clearly defined strategy, plan and goals.
According to Lolly Daskal, Founder and CEO of Lead From Within, “Strategy provides a map that shows the direction the team needs to go while the schedule and goals show them how they are going to get there. ”
5. Develop Transparency
Transparency in the workplace is knowing in real time who’s working on what, how they’re progressing, and whether they’re meeting the deadline. Being transparent means sharing all information about the project, the good news as well as problematic situations. For example, if a team member encounters a problem with a task, they should let the whole team know so they can help them and avoid delays.
Collaborative work and transparency are co-existent. Transparency allows agents to help each other and the project manager to assess the workload of his agents and to better distribute tasks to ensure the project is completed on time.
In addition, transparency encourages accountability of team members because everyone is responsible for carrying out their tasks.
6. Create a team spirit
You work best with someone you know, right? This is also true for your team. Project management often brings people together from completely different departments and backgrounds. Some may have preconceptions. To collaborate effectively together, it is therefore essential that they get to know and trust each other. It is up to you, the project manager, to promote this by developing team cohesion.
Encourage your team to have lunch together regularly, and occasionally organize events to bring your team together outside of work. Finally, never miss an opportunity to celebrate your successes, no matter how small. Team members who enjoy working together will be more productive, more efficient and more creative.
7. Use the right tools
The ultimate weapon to facilitate collaborative work in your community is a collaborative platform or project management software. For example, a collaborative sharing tool such as Wimi offers many essential assets for effective collaboration, including:
- a personalised view of all the activities of your projects;
- instant messaging to easily communicate with the whole team;
- centralization and sharing of working documents;
- online task management;
- an calendar to view milestones, deadlines and events;
- a reporting function to monitor the performance of the team.
Interested? Why not test Wimi for free and with no obligation for 14 days to get your own idea?
Summary:
Working together to be successful is very motivating. However, collaborative work doesn’t just happen overnight. It requires, among other things, to set up a suitable working environment and to gradually change mentalities. Follow these 7 tips for successful collaboration in your community.
