How do you stimulate collaboration in the workplace?

Working together connects people. They share their knowledge, work in mutual consultation and use each other's strengths to achieve a good end result. After all, together they are stronger than one. For collaboration to become the norm in your workplace, you need to create the right environment, however. Which means you need to know all the factors that contribute to successful collaboration - what is actually needed for colleagues to work well together. And once you know this, how do you stimulate cooperation on the work floor?

What is needed for effective workplace cooperation?
There are a number of conditions at the basis of true cooperation. In this article we explain a number of important elements that you should consider.

Communication
Communication is important for everything from morale to teamwork on the work floor. Team members must listen to each other, respect each other, and give each other the time to express views and ideas. This sort of open communication engenders trust and reduces the chance of conflicts arising from minor miscommunication. It is wise to evaluate your communication channels and approach regularly. What is going well and what could be improved? Is everyone contributing – or at least feel that they can contribute? In short, effective communication is a basic condition for professional cooperation.

Common objectives
Common goals and striving for the best results are essential for effective cooperation within a team. It is important to define objectives clearly, as well as the steps or phases that lead to those objectives, so that everyone is on the same wavelength. Schedule update meetings at a frequency that suits your business or project; the entire team should be present and it is at these meetings that objectives are discussed and agreements are made. This not only makes everyone feel included and equally valued, but prevents colleagues from deviating from the team’s agreed objectives and methods.

Involvement / engagement
Engaged or involved employees enjoy their work, are less likely to make mistakes and make more suggestions for improvement than non-involved employees. They are also more productive and feel more responsible for the common goal. Involved employees therefore work better together.

Division of roles and responsibilities
Avoid irritation and inefficiency by making a clear division of tasks and roles. Give employees clearly structured responsibilities. This increases engagement and a sense of ownership, while reducing conflict and mistakes. And when responsibilities overlap on certain points, this stimulates cooperation.

Flexibility
Just when everything is going well, something unexpected may happen, such as an employee leaving, a customer wanting a different product or a supplier delivering an order too late. It is important that the team can respond to this and is flexible. This means not only contingency planning for all eventualities, but encouraging team members to share their knowledge, to understand the impact of unexpected change on colleagues’ workloads, and a willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty when the need arises. 

How do you stimulate cooperation?
There are lots of ways to stimulate cooperation, and there are also plenty of options online. We have listed a few of our favourites below.

Meeting rooms
A meeting room can be used by employees to improve their mutual contact. Think of a comfortable place where colleagues get together to have a cup of coffee or to have a chat. It is therefore important to invest in a space with a good coffee machine and comfortable furniture. In an online situation, of course, it works slightly differently, but even then, it would be nice to plan an online coffee moment.

Sharing ideas
Employees are often full of ideas. Hang a notice board or white board on the work floor on which employees can share their ideas and comments. You can also opt for an idea box. Prefer digital? Hang up a screen and make sure the ideas appear on it. The employee feels involved and the employer receives good ideas and feedback.

Sharing information
A new employee in the purchasing department? News from the staff association? Share it via the intranet. You should always provide either printed news or a television screen in the canteen, staff rooms and on the shop floor. 

(Online) Friday afternoon drink
A monthly (online) Friday afternoon drink is a good time to share information with your team or department in a relaxed way. Involve the employees; does anyone want to share something with the whole team? Or think of a fun online quiz together, in which you get to know each other better. It's also the perfect time for a good conversation between colleagues. Good for team building!

Teambuilding
Organise a teambuilding activity every year. Think of a networking event of the agricultural sector or a training session or workshop about working together, of course, this can also be done online. It can also be something informal, such as a barbecue. Colleagues who get to know each other outside the workplace have more empathy for one another and this creates a bond.

Given the situation we are in at the moment, it is important to keep in touch with your colleagues. Not only in meetings, but also having a virtual cup of coffee with each other can be fun. There are plenty of online options!

Other online activities

• Work out together during the virtual sports hour;
• Drink a cup of coffee online with a colleague on a regular basis;
• Compete against each other during an online knowledge quiz;
• Start your day together in the online day start;
• Celebrate a birthday or anniversary online.

What steps are you going to take to improve cooperation and collaboration in your workplace?