When employees are invited to collaborate with coworkers, teams, and even senior leadership, they are more likely to remain engaged. Companies have a largely underused opportunity to increase their engagement through collaboration. A global study found that 39% of surveyed employees feel that their peers don’t collaborate enough. Interestingly, it also found that 75% of employees rank workplace collaboration as “very important.”
Collaboration is utilized uniquely at every company, but there are a few workplace characteristics that create an environment for successful collaboration: willingness to listen, positive interactions, and a value on creativity.
Willingness to Listen
It’s been traditionally said that the secret of sales is listening to the customer for 80% of the conversation! The concept translates to the workplace as well: listening more than talking communicates value for what peers and team members are saying. Creating an environment where all employees are confident they’ll be heard results in a willingness to speak up. Collaboration happens when all employees have a voice.
Positive Interactions
If attempts to collaborate or simply communicate are met with impatience, frustration, or indifference, employees are likely to cease efforts to connect with team members and leaders. It is important for leadership to model and enforce positive workplace interactions by emphasizing politeness and kindness. By creating a place where communication is positive, collaboration can blossom naturally.
A Value on Creativity
And finally, company cultures that place value on their employees’ creativity are much more likely to foster excellent collaboration. A 2019 article by Gallup states the following: “Only 29% of workers strongly agree that they're expected to be creative or think of new ways to do things at work. While we're all capable of finding new ways to help our company succeed, we may not put in much effort, or feel welcome to, unless creativity is expressly required.” Leaders can help employees be more creative by intentionally asking for their input and collaboration on projects. This will help employees flex their creative muscles and be more willing to collaborate in the future.
Collaboration is a great opportunity to increase employee engagement. We Optimize Work helps companies solve their biggest challenges in employee engagement in order to avoid multi-million dollar losses in productivity and turnover cost. We A.I.M. to help our clients by raising Awareness through keynote speaking, Implementing our approach through strategic facilitation, and gaining Momentum by serving as a trusted advisor. Connect with us today so we can help you optimize your employee engagement! Email Domonique at dtownsend@weoptimizework.com.