Are you feeling the pressure to work faster and be more productive? Are you having difficulty getting your team to cooperate and collaborate? If so, you may be stuck in the land of silos.
You know the drill: each team works in its little bubble, rarely, if ever, communicating with the other teams. As a leader, you encourage autonomy and independence, but it can lead to wasted time, energy, and inefficiency.
There’s a better way: collaboration. Your teams can work together more effectively and efficiently by sharing information, resources, and ideas. You can develop a culture of collaboration by establishing clear objectives and expectations, fostering trust, and providing support to each team.
Clarify Expectations
Establishing clear objectives and expectations is the first step to developing a collaborative environment. Every team should know their roles and responsibilities and what is expected of them. This helps foster a sense of ownership and accountability among your team members.
Strengthen Trust
“Speed happens when people . . . truly trust each other.”
Edward Marshall
Trust is also important when it comes to collaborating. Your team should feel comfortable working together and sharing ideas. When team members respect each other’s opinions and everyone’s opinions and ideas are heard, you create a culture of trust.
Support the Team
Finally, you need to provide support to each team. As the leader, encourage them to work together and support each other. If they need resources from you, provide them. Take the time to give constructive feedback and ask questions to help them stay on track and reach their goals.
Leadership expert John C. Maxwell in his book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Leadership states “one is too small a number to achieve greatness.” When we or our teams work in silos, we cannot accomplish as great of things as we can with a team.
Collaboration can be a great way to increase productivity, efficiency, and achieve greater results. You can help your teams work together more effectively by establishing clear objectives and expectations, fostering trust, and providing support. You’ll be amazed at the results when your teams start working together instead of in silos.
When you look at these areas, which do you need to improve? Need help building teamwork on your team? Contact me to discuss using the Leadership Game to improve teamwork or a leadership roundtable on the topic. Keep helping your team come together and lead well.
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