Collaboration is the lifeblood of any large, multi-site organisation. It’s critical if you want a seamless operation where teams and departments stay on the same page, innovation flourishes, and productivity is maximised.

But the bigger you are, the harder it can be. You’re not only trying to work as a team across one site; you’re trying to come together effectively across different cities, counties, or even countries. Without successful remote collaboration, no business could exist on a national or global scale. Drawing from the minds of many, embracing contrasting opinions and perspectives, no matter how far apart, is how you secure your space in the market for years to come.

75% of employees consider collaboration and teamwork as important. While extremely connected teams can experience a 21% increase in profitability. But what are the key non-negotiables of first-class professional collaboration? Let’s find out.

Efficiency

Nothing stops collaboration in its tracks quite like inefficiency. And this turns up in our day-to-days constantly. It could be a long-winded in-person meeting that isn’t properly planned, wasting an hour of everyone’s time. Or it might be software that’s slow and unreliable, leading to random, unexpected downtime. It could even be stunted communication channels, where people are left waiting hours for responses, unsure if the recipient has seen their message come in – or is even at work that day.

To embrace the full effect of collaboration, you need to iron out all of these kinks. Whether you’re collaborating in-person or remotely, use your time wisely. Any tools or systems you use should be there to help, not hinder. Ask yourself if those meetings are necessary – can you convey the information in a clearer, more efficient way? Is there a platform where you can bring everyone together and share exactly what you need quickly?

Take meetings as an example. We’re all familiar with them, so they’re easy to organise, right? But are you actually going about it right, preparing everyone beforehand and following up after the fact? 

Try writing up an agenda before the meeting and sending it to everyone a day or two prior. This will stop you drifting off topic. And if it’s not on the agenda, put your foot down and squash any other conversations that come up. People will thank you for saving their time. Follow up on all your points, get feedback from everyone, and ensure you finish on time. You no doubt have plenty to do and so does everyone else. With Zoom meetings more prevalent today, this is more important than ever.

Clarity

To work as productively as possible, your teams need complete clarity on what’s expected from them. If there’s space for miscommunication, there’s potential for error. And this can throw a massive spanner in the works for your organisation’s collaboration and profitability.

Staff training, management, communication, and task assignment need to be crystal clear. Everyone needs to be on the same page. And, if this isn’t always possible, there needs to be open and reliable communication across the board so any doubts or misunderstandings can be resolved quickly.

This is even more crucial when you’re working across multiple sites. You want consistency across your organisation, so you need to ensure everyone is working at the same level. This can only happen if you’re clear with your expectations for how they work.

Trust

The reason trust is so critical for collaboration is twofold. 

First, we need to trust in one another to get the job done and support each other’s growth and development. Your staff should be able to depend on management for honest and productive feedback that enables them to continually improve and evolve within their role. Teams and individuals should trust each other to pull their weight and complete tasks to a high standard. For collaboration to work, everyone needs to be performing optimally – any break in the chain significantly impacting overall performance.

Secondly, an organisation must be able to trust its systems and processes to support its workforce’s efforts. If you’re using outdated systems that are prone to crashing or downtime, yes productivity will suffer, but so will team morale. 

As much as clear, smooth operations make for a good business, it’s this element of trust that can make all the difference to larger organisations. And never forget that as much as you need to trust your employees to do their job, they need to trust you too.

Accountability

Your teams should be able to clearly see the role they’re playing in wider projects. As should everyone else involved. This way, you increase accountability across your organisation, motivating people to step up and take their responsibilities more seriously. 

Also, if deadlines or essential tasks get missed altogether, there must be systems in place to ensure you find any areas for improvement. Everyone should be accountable for their own actions and responsibilities, while the wider organisation remains accountable to providing support and resources to the areas that need them most.

No matter how seamless or productive your organisation, there will still be room for improvement within each of these areas. Whether it’s removing in-person meetings altogether, tightening your communication channels, or visualising your project management to boost accountability for everyone involved. 

If you’re interested in strengthening your organisation’s collaboration, Inform People is a tailor-made solution to streamline all your operations, including communication, HR, and compliance. To find out more, get in touch with us via email.