Collaboration in the workplace was once confined to in-person brainstorming sessions and project coordination. However, how we work, especially how we collaborate, is evolving.
As companies become more interconnected and multifaceted, teamwork has become essential. According to research, the time managers and employees spend on collaborative activities has surged by over 50% in the past two decades, and in many organizations, communication with coworkers takes up 72% of the work week.
So how can employees successfully collaborate while overcoming typical organizational barriers that hinder effective collaboration in the workplace? What cloud collaboration tools should companies use to be successful? First, let’s define employee collaboration and how it looks when done well.
In this post, we’ll explore…
- What is collaboration in the workplace?
- Why is collaboration in the workplace important?
- Benefits and examples of collaboration in the workplace
- 6 principles of successful collaboration in the workplace
- How to improve collaboration in the workplace: 5 essential strategies and skills
- Tools that help with employee collaboration in the workplace
👀 How can you get your employees to collaborate better? It all begins with getting your new hires started on the right foot. Download our free remote onboarding checklist!
What is collaboration in the workplace?
The definition of collaboration in the workplace is when two or more people work together on a task or project. Thanks to the many communication tools and cloud-based programs created for this purpose, this can happen in person or virtually.
While there are many effective collaboration and communication strategies, the most successful work environments typically have some important features in common. They’re places where employees feel seen, heard, and safe to share their thoughts. They run efficient meetings and work sessions. They have standardized systems and collaboration processes in place. Their teams understand the importance of healthy communication. You might have worked at one (or a few, if you’re lucky!) before.
Most importantly, executives and leadership understand that successful collaboration in the workplace isn’t just good for their employees—it’s good for their customers and their bottom line, too.
Why is collaboration in the workplace important?
Collaboration in the workplace is crucial because it drives innovation and productivity. By combining diverse perspectives and skills, teams can generate creative solutions and tackle complex projects more efficiently. This collective approach leads to better problem-solving and enhanced performance.
Collaboration also promotes a sense of community and strengthens team relationships. Working together toward common goals builds trust and improves communication, creating a more cohesive and supportive work environment. This unity boosts employee satisfaction and retention, as individuals feel valued and connected to their colleagues.
Benefits and examples of collaboration in the workplace
It might seem like a no-brainer to ensure your team members are working collaboratively with others in the workplace. After all, as the saying goes, “teamwork makes the dream work,” right?
The pros of effective communication and collaboration in the workplace far outweigh the cons. Still, it’s no easy feat to bring people together from different backgrounds and time zones (depending on the size and structure of your company), to work toward a common goal. Let’s examine the benefits and some collaboration examples in the workplace.
More innovation
Recently, more and more companies are assembling teams that bring people from across the organization together to brainstorm issues and generate new ideas that will benefit the business.
For example, consulting firm Protiviti hosts a Global Innovation Challenge where each of its local offices conducts a working session to answer a question from the leadership team. The ideas generated are then logged into the company’s internal idea-sharing platform and reviewed by the company’s Innovation Task Force:
Not only do initiatives like this help companies leverage the diverse perspectives of their talent, but studies also show that groups tend to innovate faster, see mistakes more quickly, and find better solutions to problems than people working on their own.
Stronger teams
What do some of the best workplaces in the world have in common? They put effort into connecting their employees to form stronger teams and social networks. Not only does working toward the same goal instill team members with a strong sense of purpose, but collaboration also enables team members to fill in each others’ skills gaps and divide up the work to play to everyone’s strengths.
Case in point: HR tech company Workday developed a New Connections program for new hires to help them establish strong bonds with their colleagues. Through the program, employees spend half the day learning about the value of connections and the second half working on a community project to deepen their connections both inside and outside of the organization.
More knowledgeable and skilled employees
When teams collaborate, they get the opportunity to learn new things from each other, which contributes to their overall personal and professional development. Collaboration also challenges people to think, articulate, and learn more about their competencies, which can help them build self-awareness and a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
For example, teams often benefit from combining cosmopolitan team members who have lived in multiple countries and speak multiple languages, and local members who have deep roots in the area they’re working in.
The cosmopolitan members bring technical know-how and expertise that can be applied to many situations. In contrast, the locals bring in-depth knowledge and insight into an area’s politics, culture, and tastes. Having these two types of members allows them to share knowledge and learn from one another while simultaneously tackling the projects at hand.
A better customer experience
We’ve all heard of assembly lines—and though they sometimes get a bad rap, they’ve shown us that many people working together can complete a project faster than one person working on their own. While this has many benefits internally, it can also have a huge impact on customer experience (and help you maintain a high customer retention rate).
For example, RingCentral is a collaboration platform that lets office-based teams communicate easily with contact center agents—not just for working on internal projects but also for ad hoc collaboration to solve customer problems as they happen in real-time:
This empowers contact centers to resolve problems faster than previously possible, which makes for happy customers and gets you rave customer reviews.
6 Principles of successful collaboration in the workplace
Collaboration styles vary wildly, but there are a few core principles to keep in mind when improving collaboration in the workplace:
1. Efficiency
Meetings are an essential element of collaboration, but over the years, they’ve gotten a bad rap. After all, who hasn’t been in a meeting that felt overly long or unnecessary? There are a few things you can do to turn your team into a productivity machine.
One is only to have meetings when necessary. Virtual collaboration is great, but everyone has heard of video burnout. Having back-to-back meetings can be exhausting and frustrating, especially when teammates have pressing deadlines. By setting only those meetings that are actually necessary, you can ensure you’re making the best use of your team’s valuable time.
Want to have more efficient meetings? Use these free meeting agenda templates to keep everyone on track. 👇
Another way is to make sure that any meeting or call has an agenda and clear goals outlined for each participant.
Lastly, don’t forget to set action items for everyone involved in the project at the end. If you have a project requiring more teamwork from the attendees in a meeting, why not create a project-focused team chat for everyone?
For example, RingCentral’s video conferencing app lets you do exactly that. Not only can you have virtual meetings, but you can also create a group conversation for follow-ups after the meeting—in the same app- as well as take collaborative notes to be shared after the call::
2. Trust
People need to feel safe giving and receiving genuinely constructive feedback, be inspired by a common goal, and have the tools and opportunities to connect. This can only happen in a trusting environment where employees feel like their teammates and leaders have their best interests at heart.
3. Empathy
Every team member has an important part to play. Nevertheless, collaboration can break down when one or more people feel like they have it harder than everyone else or feel like other team members are trying to bring them down. The more you get to know your colleagues and understand how they work and what challenges they’re dealing with, the better chance you’ll have at successfully collaborating with them.
4. Positivity
Just because you had a group project go poorly in the past doesn’t mean the same thing will happen again. Try to shake off past hang-ups and approach every group work situation like a new start, with an open and positive mindset.
5. Clarity
It’s rare for everyone on a team to be on the same page from the very beginning. Every stakeholder from every team will have their own priorities or interests. That’s why it’s important to identify everybody’s priorities and agendas to find a common denominator to move the project forward.
6. Accountability
The most successful businesses have systems and processes where employees can reference a project’s schedule and tasks, so they have a clear understanding of how their contributions affect the group. If deadlines are missed or someone isn’t pulling their weight, it can be addressed quickly.
How to improve collaboration in the workplace: 5 essential strategies and skills
If you’ve ever worked on a group project that didn’t go as well as you thought it would, then you know that promoting collaboration in the workplace is often easier said than done. Perhaps your teammates work remotely and are hard to reach. Or maybe your organization is too siloed, and departments don’t want to share information.
If you’re facing collaboration challenges at your workplace, one of the best things you can do is develop your soft skills. Trust us—mastering these five collaboration skills and strategies will make working in a team much easier and more effective.
1. Goal setting
When working with a team, everybody must understand the purpose and vision behind the project and how success will be determined. Establishing transparency from the get-go builds trust and ensures everyone is committed to success and aligned with a common purpose.
2. Communication
Before you begin tackling a task or assignment, make sure you set clear intentions. Let your teammates know what you’re doing and set realistic expectations for when you’ll get done—and be sure to follow through.
Also, remember to communicate if you need to make any changes to the plan that you’ve set out. If something unexpected happens and you won’t be able to deliver results as expected, communicate these changes.
Again, this is where having an all-in-one communications tools comes in handy—if your team can video call and instant-message each other from the same app, there’s a higher chance that they’ll communicate quickly with each other when something comes up:
3. Active listening
When you’re working closely with others, you have to listen closely to each team member’s ideas, feedback, and advice—and be considerate and respectful when responding. That’s the idea behind active listening.
While you may have ideas about how you would like the project to go or who should do what, you still need to consider your colleagues’ opinions. You might not always agree with the outcome, but ultimately, you need to prioritize the group’s needs and responsibilities over your own wants.
4. Problem-solving
Sometimes, issues arise, and people make mistakes. It happens. Calmly analyze the issue as a group without blaming any one person. Instead, focus your energy on working together to find solutions. This helps build trust between team members and ensures everyone feels comfortable communicating and being transparent with each other, even if they do something wrong.
5. Time management
Collaborating with others means you need to be accountable to not only yourself but also your group members who are dependent on you. This is where time management skills come in. Being able to prioritize your tasks and schedule them accordingly is key to ensuring you can meet deadlines and complete the work that your team is counting on you to deliver.
Tools that help with employee collaboration in the workplace
Teams can’t collaborate if they can’t communicate. The good news is there are many digital tools available to help you collaborate with colleagues virtually—beyond just email because, as we know, email isn’t always the best way to get in touch with someone.
Here are some of the best collaboration tools you and your team should have on your radar:
RingCentral
RingCentral’s desktop and mobile app is an all-in-one communication tool that makes teamwork and collaboration in the workplace seamless through every channel.
It includes video calling, messaging, file sharing, and task management features and can even integrate with apps like Google Drive and Google Calendar:
You can use it to start conversations with clients and teammates across multiple touchpoints and answer their questions faster by working together in real-time across departments over a call, message, or video conference—all in the same app.
🕹️ Get a hands-on look at how RingCentral works by booking a product tour:
💰 You can also use this calculator to see roughly how much your business could save by using RingCentral to support your team’s communication with each other—and clients.
Asana
One of the most popular project management tools on the market, Asana allows you to assign tasks to other teammates, add followers to projects, and monitor deadlines.
At its most basic, Asana functions as a robust to-do list or project calendar. Still, its premium version has useful features like Forms to gather information and Timeline to track start dates and dependencies.
Trello
Like Asana, Trello is a project management tool. Its user-friendly interface organizes projects and tasks into cards that can be dragged and dropped into different columns. It’s quick to set up and works well for monitoring projects, assigning tasks, and quickly seeing the status of your team’s projects at a glance.
Google Workspace
Google’s suite of collaboration tools is tough to beat. From Drive to Sheets to Calendar, Google Workspace’s tools are designed to allow teams to work together, from anywhere.
Improve teamwork and collaboration in the workplace with RingCentral
Effective collaboration in the workplace goes beyond having video calls and clear meeting agendas.
The best workplaces implement various practices and programs to foster collaboration, from having weekly standups to keep everyone in the loop on a project, to using the right tools to let employees communicate with each other on whichever channels they prefer.
Looking for a platform to improve collaboration in your workplace and help employees be more productive? Check out a demo of RingCentral AI-powered communications solutions now!.
Originally published Jun 21, 2024, updated Jun 24, 2024
