This year, I’ve spent a lot of time supporting leaders and teams in developing an intentional approach to building better collaboration across teams. When we think carefully about how we would like people to work together, make better decisions and find ways forward within the context of a bigger plan, this approach of being intentional about this can make a huge difference to the outcomes.
Image: Christina Morillo, pexels
Many of the leaders and teams I work with face a whole host of challenges that can be improved through better collaboration, including siloed teams, doing more with less, remote work, organisational politics and the complexities that constant change can bring.
As an example, imagine a project where every department has its own agenda, deadlines get missed and the blame game starts. When this type of scenario happens, there has very likely been no space – like a workshop or a facilitated discussion – where these (siloed) departments could have come together to align goals, build trust and strengthen team dynamics and stopped the blame game happening at all.
Instead, when you put people together in a well-planned, collaborative space, you’ll create:
A safe environment where everyone feels that they can speak up and be heard – which builds trust. This is especially important in times of change when you need to build plans and get folk to co-create. You want everyone to share their honest thoughts about what will work – and what won’t work – to get the best result.
Time for teams to step back, recalibrate and think. I recently co-designed and supported a workshop where teams from across an organisation came together to both learn and plan around a key topic over a couple of days. Trying to shoehorn this type of thinking in between day-to-day work means that it won’t get the focus it needs or deserves for the best outcomes and will take much longer to achieve the goals too.
Getting actionable outcomes. When done well and with clear intention, these spaces don’t only support good discussion, they can help to produce clear action plans and roadmaps that teams can take away and put into practice straightaway.
Building team dynamics. When these spaces are designed well, any team-building and commitments to delivering on actions developed in the room can continue long after teams have gone back to their day jobs.
The watch-outs…
It’s not simply a case of inviting a few key people to a room and waiting for the magic to happen. Here are just a few of the practicalities I’ve learned along the way that could be helpful if you’re thinking of building a space to intentionally nurture collaboration:
Be very clear on your purpose from the outset to help maintain focus on the real priorities.
Get the right people involved and engage folk from across different teams who can offer a variety of perspectives.
Think carefully about how you can make these spaces as inclusive as possible.
Use experienced facilitators. As they’re ‘outsiders’, they’ll be more likely to be able to guide discussions objectively, manage any tricky dynamics in the room and make sure that everyone is heard.
Include real-life activities which mirror real examples back in your workplace. It helps teams to practice the intricacies and challenges of collaboration, in a safe setting.
Have a very clear ending. Make sure you recap, agree next steps and any accountability that needs to be put in place to make sure that all the insights translate into tangible, longer-term change. And share those quickly after the event.
Allow lots of time for planning before the event and factor in reflection time afterwards to any and all learning that can be taken forward.
Workshops and facilitated discussions are a brilliant way for leaders to help their teams work more collaboratively, get aligned, learn from each other and adapt.
In a world which is increasingly complex and uncertain, developing agility and building connection are essential. Having spaces where teams can come together to collaborate and co-create helps to build the trust and cohesion everyone needs to make positive progress.
If you’re thinking of bringing your teams together to achieve a specific goal or plan or you need to find a way ahead on a tricky topic, please get in touch.