Teamwork By Design, Not default!



Communication & Collaboration for Business Excellence- how to save time, money and keep employees happy.

Salesforce reported in a recent study of more than 1400 corporate executives, employees and educators that 86% of the participants believed that lack of collaboration was responsible for failures in the workplace.

Now more than ever, collaboration and teamwork are vital skills for a company’s sustainability and success. Adding to the complexity of collaboration is the fact that many teams work remotely and limited (if any) ability to build relationships face to face yet the necessity to collaborate is on the rise. Harvard Business Review reported that the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has increased dramatically, by 50% or more.

What does it take to help teams work better together? In the hundreds of workplace training and team building processes I have facilitated, I found that there were five critical components:
5 Elements of building a team by design not default:

1. Connection
2. Collaboration
3. Compassion
4. Communication
5. Conflict Resolution

Teams that spend time building and strengthening connections, will have higher degrees of trust and accountability. That connection will help employees work through communication challenges and issues in a way that places importance on maintaining the relationship.

Collaboration can be enhanced when people understand their working styles, and how to work better together with people whose style differs from their own.

Hal Stacks states that there are four working styles: Driver, Expressive, Amiable and Analytical. Each of these styles is important and necessary on a team and while you have a predominant style, I have seen collaboration be enhanced immensely when people learn how to be all four styles and show up more the like the style you are communicating with.

Compassion and kindness are vital, yet frequently overlooked, virtues in the workplace. Teams that have compassion typically value working in a respectful workplace culture. Instead of blame, they inquire.

The skills of communication and conflict resolution go hand in hand. Trying to resolve conflict without effective communication will generally result in more oppositional viewpoints, frustration and an issue that remains unsolved.

As you move forward in building your team, take time to build upon the 5 C’s (above). Your team will thank you and the proof will be in the results!