Collaborative working features plenty of advantages when speaking of both personal development and performance enhancement of the employees, and companies can do a lot to promote that collaborative environment.

Collaborative working is all the rage these days, and in many realms of society. There is an increasing number of crowdfunding projects in the works, Wikipedia is the biggest collaborative encyclopaedia in the world, coworking spaces are common ground for small entrepreneurs or mid-sized companies…

But, how about our job positions? Does collaborative effort help improve our skills? It surely does. To begin with, many experts claim that, precisely, team work is one of the most relevant aspects in those organizations achieving high performance standards.

Be it interdepartmental association, cooperation among technicians from diverse fields, or collaboration between professionals at different position levels, collaborative working is characterized by being able to combine individual efforts and exploit every person´s singular capabilities. Let´s see how it can help us improve our skills.

An alternative impulse to stalled careers

Some of the advantages provided by collaborative working for both individual growth and company benefit are the following:

– Being a motivational booster, collaborative working presents an opportunity to apply actual knowledge and learn skills from other work environments which, otherwise, employees wouldn´t have the chance to acquire.

– It strengthens commitment towards the company, since participation in decision-making processes or group analysis engages the whole team in the goals set beforehand and encourages its members to be more involved.

– It enhances generation of ideas and increases creativity: collaborative working is capable of combining creativity and knowledge from diverse professional backgrounds, hence turning problem solving into a richer and more interesting approach than when addressed separately.

– It´s capable of promoting greater dialogue and communication, since sharing ideas and different points of view around a free environment fosters open communication, thus having a positive impact on the outcome of the objectives set by the company.

– Eventually, collaborative working usually implies an improvement in the operation of a company, creating smooth-flowing environments around employees, so that they don´t perform their duties in self-contained areas without any chance of creating learning synergies with other co-workers.

How to promote collaborative working in a company

  1. Companies can promote collaborative working by improving their processes and, for that to happen, technology becomes a great companion. Intranet communication, 2.0 tools and collaborative applications foster creativity and generation of ideas on the part of every employee in the company.
  2. Innovation culture in the company can also be a booster for collaborative working. When knowledge is shared, it thrives, becoming the best scenario to promote innovative approaches as a result of multi-disciplinary efforts.
  3. Creation of solid company profiles in social media is paramount to motivate employee interaction and involvement in the company´s philosophy, to promote knowledge sharing and to encourage them to express their opinions.
  4. There are other participatory tools, beyond collaborative working, that improve the atmosphere in the company and promote sense of belonging, such as special offers for the staff, auction sales and marketing of internal products through its website.

Sources: Euroresidentes, Ignasialcalde, Tumapa

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