Five tips for effective team collaboration Get everyone on the same page. Don't be afraid to communicate too much, especially with a remote team. To meet or not to meet, that is the question. Be a team player, but set some ground rules.
Collaboration often involves the reciprocal communication of ideas and information between several team members. When a coworker talks to you, practice the technique of listening with empathy. Instead of planning your response or interrupting with your own plans, take notes, jot down questions, and keep an open mind. Wait for them to finish before speaking, and then ask questions to validate their ideas.
Most employees prefer to go to their colleagues to learn more about their industry and improve their skills. However, less than half of organizations have adopted some type of peer-to-peer learning method. Implementing peer-to-peer training, in which employees create learning content for their teammates, is one of the best ways to leverage that preference and get employees to share their knowledge. Peer training enriches the learning experience.
Any employee with subject matter experience can respond to a learning need and create a course on that topic. Employees can ask questions about an existing course or update it. Employees can also react to courses and provide feedback, helping to fill knowledge gaps within the organization. Peer training also makes learning affordable.
Instead of paying an outside expert to come and train, we call on in-house experts. A curious conversation is a scheduled meeting with a colleague, someone from the organization you admire, or a member of the management team, in which an employee can ask questions about their career, their daily experience, and the path they have yet to go. Like mentoring conversations in higher education, these informal meetings allow ideas to flow and can generate new ideas and build bridges. By bringing together employees from different departments, curious conversations help build connections and empathy.
They offer an essential opportunity to discover not only what a job entails, but also the mentality that underpins it, which translates into better communication, fewer misunderstandings and greater collaboration. Virtual coworking is simply about working with colleagues virtually. For remote teams, in particular, this can facilitate collaboration across time zones, helping employees stay focused, share ideas and feel connected. Virtual coworking reduces isolation by making employees feel connected to each other.
The flexibility to work from anywhere and still have “office friends” makes employees happier and more productive. Teams choose 360Learning to learn better on the job.
