by Shubham Gupta __
Those who work alone can only accumulate, but those who collaborate intelligently can multiply.
Since childhood, we have been playing various games with our friends and via these games learning very important lessons of our life and what follows ahead. Take for example the game of chess – I am sure most of us have tried our hand on it during our leisure time. Do you know that there are more possible moves in a game of chess than there are seconds that have elapsed since the big bang?
Chess is an infinite game but still we have grand masters who are always at the top. How can someone succeed in this infinite game? The answer lies in identifying the patterns and looking out for identifiable scenarios.
Take for example football or basketball, the teams need more than one key player to win. It’s like for every Michael Jordan you need to have a Dennis Rodman or Scotty Pippen.
So, whether in office or pitch, collaboration is a very important element of any team that can bring in great results irrespective of time and effort it takes to attain that level.
Boiled down to its very essence, collaboration can be defined as a ‘TEAM engaging in TASKS to reach shared TARGETS’.
As a leader, the more you work on constructing processes and culture that encourages collaboration, the more you will be able to multiply the strength of your workforce and drive success.
Remember these 4Cs:
Communicate: Without communication any team will have a tough time in execution. So institute a culture of open communication while collaborating. The more open the environment, the more team members feel at home thereby increasing the productivity.
Create a supportive environment: It’s good to reward employees with great performance but it’s also crucial to reward teamwork. To encourage collaboration, make a percentage of an employee’s bonus tied to how well they collaborate with their co-workers. A supportive environment also means having training and education resources available for employees within the organization.
Choice: Learn to get out of the way. It’s good to have best practices and guidelines but let your employees choose what they need to do. Do not enforce or police everything, this will only stifle collaboration within your organization.
Co-operate and Co-ordinate: Cooperation and Coordination between employees has tremendous value for customers. When an employee has access to the entire organization, he can provide better experience and superior support to the customer for any of the problems.
