Mastering collaboration in the workplace is vital for business success

With businesses embracing flexibility, more teams work at different times and places. This has plenty of benefits, such as productivity and employee satisfaction. However, it can also create challenges. To overcome these, many businesses are focusing on developing soft skills.

Soft skills are attributes that allow you to interact and work with others effectively. Soft skills benefit every business role, unlike hard skills like technical knowledge. They include the ability to communicate, lead, and collaborate with others.

Although all soft skills are essential, working collaboratively in today's remote-first work culture is more valuable than ever. In fact, over half of business executives believe collaboration is one of the most critical soft skills employees can learn.

If you're wondering why collaboration is important and how to encourage collaboration in teams, continue reading.

What is collaboration?

Collaboration is essentially teamwork. When people work collaboratively, they create a physical piece of work or an idea. In today’s modern workplace, collaboration can take many forms, from coworking and in-person meetings to virtual communication. Collaboration happens daily in every business and is vital for growth and development.

Why is collaboration important?

Collaboration is essential because every person, regardless of their role or seniority, has unique skills and experiences. Working collaboratively encourages people to share these skills across roles, teams, and departments. It means every part of a business can benefit from all the knowledge and skills within its workforce. This kind of flexibility creates a business that's more adaptable and resilient.

Effective collaboration in teams also develops other important soft skills. People's ability to communicate, listen, and problem-solve by regularly working with others will also naturally develop.

Benefits of collaboration in the workplace

Here are some reasons why collaboration is vital for a successful business:

From failing strategies to supply chain issues, business problems arise daily. Having the ability to solve these as a team is invaluable. The ability to solve issues such as these allows the sharing of difficult work across roles and departments. It's also easier to allocate specific tasks to people with the required skills and experience.

Solving problems collaboratively has another key benefit. It encourages shared accountability, which results in less pressure and stress on individuals.

Whether they're discussing project timelines, sharing ideas, or solving problems, teams that are working collaboratively are constantly connecting. This regular contact, via calls, emails, or in-person, creates a more comfortable communication team.

To encourage regular communication, teams must have access to different ways of connecting and collaborating. Some people prefer virtual teamwork collaboration, while others thrive in face-to-face environments. Businesses should provide flexible work solutions to cater to everyone's preferences.

Teams collaboratively working are together more often. This contact increases learning opportunities, either by asking questions or observing others. With 55% of workers turning to their colleagues to learn a new skill, encouraging a collaborative culture is essential.

Fortunately, even for remote teams, there are ways to promote collaborative learning opportunities. For example, businesses can provide regular conference rooms or inspiring spaces for in-person skill-sharing sessions. As 49% of workers cite a lack of time for learning, leaders can also ensure that their teams have time allocated for personal development.

Recent surveys found that employees felt in-person collaboration boosted their productivity. Other studies also suggest that people who feel connected to their colleagues are more engaged in the workplace.

"Collaborative working improves engagement and productivity by placing people at the heart of a business. People are encouraged to build strong working relationships with their colleagues by regularly connecting, learning and working together", says Joanne Bushell, MD, IWG Plc., South Africa

Numerous studies highlight why collaboration is important for engagement and productivity; however, providing the right environment is also vital.

Research has shown collaboration and creativity increase in offices with natural light and social spaces. By designing an office for productivity. In-person workspaces businesses can nurture collaboration naturally.

From lost or misinterpreted messages to failing technology, miscommunication is a regular issue in business, especially for remote teams. In fact, almost 30% of remote workers say communicating with coworkers is one of their biggest challenges.

If a team can communicate effectively, working towards a common goal will take much work. Businesses can improve team communication by investing in virtual collaboration tools like Slack, Zoom or Miro. They can also provide regular collaborative workspaces.

The social connections created when collaboratively working are great for staff morale.

One study found that employees believed working on a collaborative team was the best way to boost their careers. It also found that satisfied employees were likelier to collaborate with clients or partners at least twice weekly.

Businesses can encourage this kind of collaboration by setting up regular catchups for people in different teams. These should ideally be in a neutral, casual environment so people feel more relaxed. Coworking spaces can help businesses with networking and encourage beneficial networking and collaboration.

Retention is a big focus for many businesses. A recent survey found that losing staff was a concern for 93% of organisations. According to one survey, poor collaboration and communication are a leading cause of employee stress. When employees are stressed, they’re more likely to leave.

With increased teamwork and communication, businesses can reduce the stress of their workforce. Collaboratively working can create stronger collaborative relationships, resulting in higher retention and productivity.

Remote working has sparked huge innovations, from virtual environments to video conferencing technologies. Despite this, 70% of businesses feel that remote work harms brainstorming sessions.

Other research has shown that video calls are a less effective form of creative collaboration.

To harness collaborative work's creative benefits, businesses should provide inspiring workspaces for creative, in-person sessions.

Self-awareness is the ability to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and how these affect others.

Research suggests strong self-awareness benefits business and career success, including creativity and confidence.

Collaborative working can encourage the development of self-awareness by exposing people to different views and opinions. Businesses can promote this by facilitating regular team-building activities and group sessions.

Building strong team relationships in today’s remote-first culture can be challenging.

29% of remote workers feel a lack of social connection with colleagues, and 83% of businesses believe valuable ‘water cooler’ moments suffer with remote work.

Focusing on collaborative skills can nurture relationships across a business. To cater to different working practices, you should encourage developing both virtual and physical collaborative skills. You can do this with training sessions, casual meetings, and virtual communication guidelines.

"Collaborative teams that share work and skills are more flexible than businesses with separate teams. When people work together across roles, teams and departments, everyone's skills and experiences are accessible", adds Bushell

"Collaboration throughout a workforce also exposes teams to other areas of the business. This creates a more knowledgeable team and increases personal growth and development opportunities", says Bushell

How Regus coworking can enhance collaboration in the workplace

Collaboration offers considerable benefits to businesses and the people behind them. In today's ever-changing climate, the importance of collaboration cannot be underestimated.

To nurture and harness collaborative working, businesses must provide the tools and spaces for teams to thrive. Regus can support businesses looking to improve collaboration by providing inspiring and collaborative workspaces.

About IWG

IWG is the global leader in hybrid work solutions and workspace brands. We create personal, financial, and strategic value for businesses of every size, from some of the most exciting companies and well-known organisations on the planet to individuals and the next generation of industry leaders. They all harness the power of IWG's hybrid working platform to increase their productivity, efficiency, agility, and market proximity.

IWG’s unrivalled network coverage includes approximately 3,500 locations across more than 120 countries, and 83% of Fortune 500 companies are amongst our growing customer base.

Through our brands, including Regus, Spaces, HQ and Signature, we help millions of people and their businesses to work more productively. We do so by providing the world's leading hybrid work platform with professional, inspiring and collaborative workspaces and digital services, all available via the IWG app. For more information

Visit www.iwgplc.com, and for more information on partnering with IWG, see: ​ https://www.iwgplc.com/develop-a-location