So much evidence shows that teamwork facilitates better results, whether in sports, the community, or business.
So, how can you better leverage the power of collaboration to deliver outcomes for your customers and your business?
You can do this successfully if you are purposeful and deliberate in creating a culture of collaboration. A perfect time to be thinking about this is when you have signed off your new or refreshed strategy – this will highlight very clearly the opportunities to collaborate for value, to set up ways of working and processes where collaboration is embedded (not just the odd joint ideation session) to achieve shared business initiatives and outcomes and actively build connections (and break down barriers) between teams. We encourage you to identify those critical opportunities where collaboration matters and your teams can do their best work together.
The Power of a Collaboration Culture
- Genuinely values that, together, we achieve more
- Creates opportunities for team members to collaborate toward shared goals consistently.
- Taps into the full potential of teams and talent
- Collective thinking drives the most creative solutions and fuels innovation.
- People who are contributing alongside others feel more engaged and motivated
- Collaborative cultures are five times as likely to be high-performing*. *Quoted by Forbes
What can leaders do to create a culture of collaboration?
- Think about what your teams are learning from you about collaboration. Be a positive role model.
- Please show respect for others by valuing their contributions. Allow everyone to bring their best.
- Be inclusive and embrace differences and diversity across the organisation.
- Empower employees to collaborate. Step back from micromanaging and let teams have more freedom and scope to collaborate.
- Coach teams to collaborate and celebrate teamwork.
Collaboration with Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Behaviours.
Lencioni’s 5 Behaviours of a Cohesive Team offer a robust framework for facilitating collaboration, with TRUST as the ‘absolute’ foundation.
The 5B model outlines what teams share and what this means for their thinking, acting, and interaction. It helps create team “ways of working”! For example, what behaviours or ways of working build trust and which undermine it?
Collaborative teams contribute to achieving shared results and creating a culture of trust, healthy conflict, commitment, and accountability.