What is Collaboration in the Workplace Benefits Strategies

Collaboration in the workplace is a work style that helps employees work together to achieve a common goal in ways that benefit a company and its employees. Discover essential strategies to improve collaboration and teamwork in your digital workplace:

Employee collaboration is much more than just a trendy phrase. It describes a work style that puts employees on track to work more diligently and efficiently to achieve a successful outcome on their assigned projects. A study conducted by Stanford University found that participants who worked collaboratively were able to stay with a task 64% longer than those who worked independently.

This approach to project and task management is more than a trend. It is a work style that is here to stay. This article dives into some of the benefits of collaborative working and specific strategies for introducing it in the workplace.

Teamwork and Collaboration in the Workplace
How would you describe collaboration in the workplace? According to indeed.com, the definition of collaboration in the workplace is “working together with one or more people to complete a project or task or develop ideas or processes.” In a workplace setting, the people who are collaborating must communicate clearly and share knowledge effectively.

Teamwork is just one of the skills required for collaboration and necessary to accomplish tasks as a group. It also includes several soft skills that can be developed over time and with experience.

Collaboration is an essential part of teamwork and helps a successful team function most effectively. If the team can’t get on the same page about what it is doing (i.e., the “what” it wants to accomplish), it isn’t going to be able to work out the details of what each team member’s role will be in reaching the team’s goal (i.e., “how” it is going to get there).

Examples of Teamwork in the Workplace

Teamwork is a strategy that has worked exceedingly well to help organizations of all types and sizes reach a common goal. The following examples of real-life problem-solving show what can be done by a team that collaborates and works well together.

— NASA Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon 1969

The Moon landing in July 1969 was a “giant leap for mankind,” in the immortal words of astronaut Neil Armstrong. The entire world was fascinated by the journey of Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins as they traveled to the moon, landed on its surface and then returned safely to Earth.

Many hours of work and several years of research led up to that moment when the crew splashed down in the ocean. There were multiple teams of people at the top of their respective fields who worked to ensure the best outcome possible. NASA stated there were approximately 400,000 people who worked on the moon landing project. Many of them had never worked on aerospace applications before. However, they were able to apply their knowledge to this new field and work closely with the astronauts.

Starbucks Store Expansion Early 1990s

Starbucks is a well-known coffee brand that is familiar to most consumers. You don’t have to travel very far in any major urban area to find one of their stores. Over the years, the Starbucks product line has expanded to include breakfast, lunch, and snack items as well as a variety of hot and cold beverages.

The company opened its first store in Seattle in 1971. By 1990, it had expanded to a chain of 84 stores, according to the company timeline. At that time, the company announced its new mission statement: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
Starbucks also introduced a stock-options plan for employees (including part-time workers) at around the same time. However, the company still had some issues around customer service and a lack of communication between employees working in different roles.

In 1995, Howard Behar came on board as the company President. He took steps to change the work environment to make it more responsive to employees’ needs. As a result, overall customer service improved. Mr. Behar took the position that the company was selling an experience, as opposed to just coffee, and encouraged team members to successfully collaborate around that mission.