How Best to Collaborate

Collaboration drives so much in a workplace. Collaborative teams have a deeper sense of trust, are more willing to take risks, and are supportive of each other more consistently. It's a powerful trait to infuse into any work team.

How best to collaborate depends on many factors: the teams, the work, the need and the project. Yet there are common traits every effective collaborative workplace shows.

Types of Smart Collaborations

Heidi K. Gardner, a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School, describes "smart collaborations" as falling into one of three categories:

1. Employees use individual and specialized expertise to solve specific problems or issues.
2. Teams of employees collectively create a solution.
3. An outside expert brings best practices to bear on an issue, rather than asking employees to reinvent the wheel.

In each case, Gardner argues, smart collaborations are not successful unless they are given time to grow and thrive — they need to gel over multiple projects. This repeated success drives the creation of a culture that embraces collaboration.

How Managers Bring Collaborations Together

• Supportive leadership. Organizations become collaborative when the highest levels demonstrate the right behaviors. Executives should invest time in building their own social networks within an organization and looking for mutually beneficial wins.
• Focused HR practices. HR programs need to encourage, recognize and celebrate a collaborative culture — mentorship that encourages collaboration, plus training in conflict resolution, difficult conversations, diversity and inclusion, and team development.
• Affinity groups and communities. Collaboration happens best when there are layered, overlapping community organizations within a company — around identity, job role, or shared interests — letting employees come together organically.
• Leadership development. There is debate about whether relationship-oriented or task-oriented leadership is best for teams; "ambidextrous" leaders who can do both are ideal.
• Heritage relationships. Building teams that leverage preexisting relationships gives those groups a head start. Core trusting relationships embedded in a team help other members reach that trust level faster.
• Reducing ambiguity. Teams are more successful, trusting, and collaborative when roles are clearly defined and each member can see how their work contributes to overall organizational outcomes.

Today's business climate forces organizations to react quickly to information, situations, and opportunities — with employees, consultants and team members located in different places and time zones. These factors make it even more critical that teams are collaborative.