September 7th 2022
We’ve all heard of the old adage “two heads are better than one” – and that’s one of the core tenets of collaborative working. With advances in modern technology, there are many problems in the business world that can easily be solved. But there’s a catch; computers can not yet fully imitate the complexity and ingenuity of the human mind.
Working with others is nothing new, but there are definitive benefits to tackling problems together and being able to reach outcomes that a single person wouldn’t have been able to achieve alone.
Today, we’re going to explore what collaborative working is, and the benefits it can bring to your business. So first, let’s define it.
What is Collaborative Working?
Collaborative working is when multiple people, or groups of people, come together to solve problems or work towards common goals. It its purest sense, it’s when people are able to freely share ideas and creativity in a way that benefits a particular endeavour. It’s all about sharing knowledge and insight, where everyone is on the same level.
When viewed through a business lens, it promotes team communication and information sharing with a collective responsibility for the outcome of a project. This can also bring multiple teams, across various sectors, together for collaboration.
So, that’s exactly what collaborative working is, now what are the benefits it can bring to your business and employees?
Knowledge Sharing
A key part of collaborative working is the sharing of knowledge. As touched on previously, people from different departments are likely to be involved in the project, and sharing information is necessary to ensure its success.
It’s very common to see teams working together who specialise in different areas and keep to themselves for the duration of the project. These people may tend to focus on their own part they need to play, with little input in the areas outside of their niche. This is not collaborative working, but it’s almost there. As this point outlines, it’s the information that’s being shared between those teams that then qualifies a project to be a collaborative endeavour.
As the collaborative project continues, and ideas are shared freely, you’ll begin to see that your employees’ skillsets are blending nicely together, like a well-oiled machine. They will be learning new skills along the way and developing new approaches to their work, which can allow them to pick up slack as and when needed from other team members. The sharing of knowledge is a vital part of collaborative working – no matter the size or scope of the project.
Improved Wellbeing and Mental Health
Working alone and stressing out about various parts of a project can be a difficult time for many employees. Collaborative working completely negates this, as there will always be someone around to run ideas by.
Humans are social creatures by nature and working within a team can provide a much-needed boost to mental health as well as mental acuity. Employees will be able to develop a rapport with their co-workers which will help them feel more like part of the whole. You should never underestimate the power of a healthy personal wellbeing in your employees – if they feel good about their work, the results will be much better in the end.
If your employees are in a good place mentally, they are also much more likely to put forward bolder and more innovative solutions to problems encountered in a project. If the solution is not possible or perhaps too bold, they know they are in a safe space to rethink and re-examine their approaches without backlash.
Work Efficiency
Perhaps the most important point, collaborative working can streamline a project and get it out the door much faster than smaller teams working separately. We’ve discussed how an individual within a collaboration can grow and develop, so all of those moving parts coming together can accelerate a project incredibly quickly. With people thinking like a hivemind, of sorts, all of the puzzle pieces of a project can fit snugly into place in rapid time.
With more people being able to point out flaws, and others to then act on this and develop solutions, the efficiency in which a project can go from simple ideas to a physical (or digital) outcome is worlds apart from solo working. The constant back and forth, bouncing around of ideas, is a foundational part of what makes collaborative working, well, work. So, if you have a big project coming up, you’ll be a fool to not give it a try.
Increased Creativity and Productivity
Productivity breeds productivity. Creativity breeds creativity. Especially when working with other people. In a collaborative working environment, teams are more readily able to think outside of the box.
Sometimes, we are so set in our ways and think our process of doing something may be the only way. But have you considered how enquiring minds on what you’re doing may get you to consider the opposite? You could be focused on a particular part of your work, and someone from a different department asks you why you’re doing it like that and may even suggest a different way, allowing you to explore more options in how you approach your own work. It’s this adaptation of approaches that breeds that highly creative work environment.
Another fantastic part of collaborative working, is being able to boost that creativity through brainstorming sessions. Bring out that whiteboard, scribble down ideas from everyone, and see how you can connect all of those sporadic thoughts together to form a blurry picture that slowly comes into focus.
Positive Workplace Culture
We’d be silly if we didn’t mention the effects that collaborative working can have on your company’s culture. Working together has many benefits, and especially in a business sense creating a positive atmosphere can really help your employees to thrive. It allows them to form long-lasting bonds with their co-workers, strong social connections that will allow ideas to flow freely.
This eliminates the competitive nature of the workplace and replaces it with a communal feeling of co-achievement. Each person is appreciated for their input and no ideas are left to rot in the proverbial break room fridge.
Many business owners can overlook the importance of creating a positive company culture for their employees. It’s vital that you don’t, though. Allow those connections to flourish, those friendships to grow, and the impact of the positive atmosphere will be starkly apparent right from the get-go.
Everything we’ve outlined in this article up until now has hopefully given you some food for thought on the benefits of collaborative working, and all of them contribute to the positive workplace culture we’ve ended on here.
Collaborative working is incredibly common in many sectors in business, especially as projects get bigger and technology allows us to do so much more nowadays than we ever could in years past.
We hope you’ve taken away something from this discussion today, and we hope to see you implementing more collaborative approaches in your future projects!
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