7-Step Guide to Successful Collaboration in a Team

Successful collaboration takes leadership and shared objectives, check out some tips below!

Achieving successful collaboration in coworking spaces is a tremendous undertaking. Still, it's a goal that positively impacts team members as it enhances productivity and builds a more robust collaborative culture in the workplace.

A team of people with varying backgrounds and skill sets will always differ in opinion and style. But alongside those differences, a more profound need for shared goals, better communication, or clear roles may hinder effective collaboration in the workplace.

So, what should you do to make people work together effectively?

Setting the groundwork for successful team collaboration requires a few moving parts, including online collaboration tools, cooperative spirit, and mutual respect. Let's take a closer look at what successful collaboration looks like and how it impacts your team.

But first—

What is successful collaboration?

Successful collaboration is when team members work together to reach a common goal or complete a particular task with speed, efficiency, and high productivity.

Let's say you want to build a content marketing strategy. You’ll need a content team (read: editors, writers, and a team leader) to communicate, make requests, or consult each other to reach the desired goal. And they must work closely with customer-facing teams, product managers, marketing teams, and SEO experts.

Through successful collaboration, all these diverse skills and knowledge will develop an in-depth content strategy that helps achieve your marketing goals.

In short, successful collaboration within a team is the secret sauce behind any project’s success. But what does successful collaboration look like?

What makes team collaboration successful?

Having multiple open communication channels for answering questions, holding discussions, and making critical decisions will help your team understand how to reach your business goals. Even when you share similar plans and expectations with your team, build a solid foundation for communication channels.

Also, ensure your remote team and in-office team members understand what successful collaboration means for your business goals. And if possible, explore team members’ needs to determine the best collaboration tactics to prioritize.

Here are the seven keys to successful collaboration:

1. Shared goals and objectives

A productive team has clear goals and objectives set in their worksheets. As a team leader, ensure everyone on your team understands what you’re all trying to accomplish together. There’s no better way to track decisions and discussions and keep them within scope. Clear goals also give a team a sense of purpose, boosting work satisfaction.

2. Understanding roles and responsibilities

Want to derail successful collaboration in the workplace? Assign different roles and responsibilities to the wrong individuals.

Each team member should clearly understand what they should do (or not) in a company. And their short and long-term duties (including deliverables) should be stipulated to help them avoid missing crucial deadlines or duplicating other team members’ tasks.

3. Create multiple communication channels

Creating multiple communication channels helps promote an open-door policy between team members. So, ensure decision-makers have regular access to all communication channels. Why? Because it drives progress, builds trust, and encourages feedback.

4. Exude teamwork in leadership

Successful managers exude teamwork in leadership through their actions and words. In essence, a team-minded leader actively participates in the process, is open to feedback, and outlines clear and reasonable expectations from other members. And best of all, they communicate effectively through the channels they help set up.

5. Reliable team collaboration tools

Let’s face it: remote work is here to stay. And remote opportunities will continue to surge through 2023. That means embracing technology is a must for successful collaboration.

Many reliable collaboration tools (think Slack or Zoom) allow team members to communicate freely and in real-time. Specifically, they help you organize team members in different channels — where they can access shared documents, use specific apps, launch meetings, and even set up notifications for efficient communication.

6. Bring teams closer together

There should be some level of trust for team members to work harmoniously in coworking spaces. To foster high levels of trust and comfort within a team, members must engage in team-building opportunities such as games, meals, and events.

Great team-building opportunities foster relationships with little everyday things that act as icebreakers.  For example, you can bring teams close together by hosting a theme day, sending fun polls, or setting up channels for shared interests. These efforts help team members get to know one another better.

7. Be open to new ideas

Successful collaboration requires teams to compromise, be flexible, and listen keenly. That means being open to new ideas, criticism, and suggestions from all team members — even if it means changing the entire project and starting all over again.

To see innovation thrive in the workplace, you must allow team members to try different ideas and perspectives. Research shows that a flexible leader helps coworkers adapt to change rather quickly. This sobering fact speaks volumes.

Bonus tip: Be transparent

Team collaboration becomes successful when you show transparency at every level. About 80% of coworkers endure stress, thanks to poor communication.

See, most details and information shared with top team leaders hardly trickles down to everyone else. On the other hand, team members may have exceptional, moving ideas that they share with their counterparts but not team leaders.

To remedy the situation, leaders should be open enough about their plans and expectations. And remain equally consistent in their communication with team members because the more information trickles down, the more successful the collaboration.

Use These Strategies For Successful Collaboration

When teams collaborate successfully, the dots of creativity connect.

But most importantly, when there’s an accurate transfer of information, an excellent mindset for collaboration, and the desire to learn how to interact with collaboration tools, you tap fresh business ideas within a team, leading to monumental breakthroughs.

Also, successful collaboration within a team increases engagement. People become more accountable for small tasks and do their best to keep the team afloat. Well-oiled, collaborative teams are the secret ingredients to a highly successful project.

But even the best team members require the right strategies to put their heads together and develop the most innovative ideas. These seven must-have strategies can help improve workplace transparency, productivity, and flexibility. Put them into action!

Radina Skorcheva is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Inbound Blogging, specializing in Content marketing and SEO. Besides her passion for digital marketing, she likes traveling and spending time with her family. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.