Building effective teamwork and collaboration skills
In today's highly competitive global economy, organizations must be able to quickly adapt to changes in the marketplace. Organizations that can collaborate effectively will outpace their competition. The improved efficiency and quality of work deliverables is a key advantage when competing for new or existing business opportunities. Building effective teamwork and collaboration aids in this process by improving performance, reducing turnover, and fostering innovation both within teams and across organizations.
The purpose of this blog post is to describe what it takes to build strategic teamwork skills through collaborative activities between groups or individuals working together towards common goals. Collaboration is an important skill that employees can use to help them manage their time, be more efficient at their work, and work together to achieve mutual goals.
Collaboration is part of the broader field of teamwork. A team consists of a group of people working together towards a common goal. Each team member has a specific role and contributes to the performance of the team. Teams are made up of people from different backgrounds who bring different skills and knowledge to the workplace. Collaboration plays a key role in creating synergy among teammates who must work together towards a goal. It also supports decisions and actions taken as a group because all members have input into these decisions and actions. (For more information about teamwork, see the article "What Is Teamwork?")
Collaboration is a process of working together and sharing ideas, knowledge, and skills in order to achieve a common goal. It takes place within teams in an organization and between organizations as well. Like teamwork, collaboration involves two or more people who work together towards a common goal. However, teamwork is usually internal to an organization whereas collaboration can have many external elements depending on the needs of the situation. Collaboration also differs from other forms of working together because it requires two or more people contribute equally towards achieving the shared goal(s).
Teamwork is the process of working together towards common goals and objectives for mutual benefit. It is a process that takes place in interpersonal situations within teams where the team members need to work together to accomplish the task at hand. When a group of people work together towards common goals, they will likely need to make decisions and coordinate their efforts. This implementation of teamwork at an organizational level allows for increased efficiency and productivity in completing tasks. Teamwork is an important skill to have in order to collaborate effectively.
Collaboration can take place between individuals or between groups within organizations (e.g., departments, divisions, etc.). It can also take place between organizations (e.g., companies, schools or hospitals). It requires several conditions in order to happen:
This list of conditions is adapted from the paper "Understanding Organizational Collaboration" by Gavin Cameron, and there are many other authors who have written about these conditions.
Collaboration is an effective way to create a shared vision, promote leadership, develop trust, increase engagement, and enhance learning within teams and organizations. It enables groups to work together towards common goals and helps individuals to work effectively together as well as with others outside of their immediate group (e.g., customers). Using collaboration skills fulfills one of the main elements for creating successful teams: members must be able to work effectively with each other in order for them to reach a shared goal.
Collaboration is a powerful way in which to achieve successful teamwork. It takes place both within the group and between groups. A team is made up of a group of people working together towards a common goal. Each team member has specific roles and contributes to the performance of the team. Teams are made up of people from different backgrounds who bring different skills and knowledge to the workplace. Collaboration plays a key role in creating synergy among teammates who must work together towards a goal. It also supports decisions and actions taken as a group because all members have input into these decisions and actions with joint participation in these activities.
Collaboration with different members also increases adaptability and changes in the workforce. When there are changes in the workplace, teams can react quickly and effectively by collaborating more effectively. A team may be made up of senior management, business unit leaders, sales and marketing employees, finance and accounting professionals, etc. Collaboration with these individuals is important to help them anticipate change and work together to collaborate on solutions that will allow the organization to continue to grow.
Collaboration within teams also allows for faster decision making since it allows for multiple perspectives or opinions from all members of a team as they work together towards a goal. Within a team, a business unit, or an organization, collaboration provides for group learning since ideas and knowledge flow freely among all members. Each individual learns from others on the team. It is also important to consult with others outside your immediate group (e.g., customers) when making decisions involving customers so that you can get their feedback in order to make better decisions.
There are some drawbacks to collaboration, however. Primarily these drawbacks relate to conflict management and maintaining focus towards the goal(s). As you are working with other people towards a common goal there will be disagreements with others on the team about what is best for the situation at hand. Conflicts arise because there are multiple perspectives and opinions from team members and stakeholders. You need to be able to manage conflict in order to avoid misunderstandings, create more interpersonal problems, and take too much time away from the primary goal of the team. Therefore, I would recommend that you seek conflict management training by attending courses such as MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)®, EQI (Emotional Intelligence), or other training that will help you navigate conflict effectively in your environment.
Another drawback to collaboration is a lack of focus on the goals or objectives of the team. Your team may be moving forward toward its goals together but they may be covering ground that is not directly related to the shared goal(s). This is why it is important to set clear goals and objectives at the beginning of the team project and then revisit them periodically to make sure that you are still moving forward in a way that will allow you to meet those goals and objectives.
As with anything, there are some drawbacks with collaboration but when used effectively it can be an important tool for successful teamwork. Understanding how collaboration occurs as well as learning how to collaborate effectively will improve your ability to work together with others towards a common goal. It is important to consider team dynamics so that you will be able to handle conflict effectively and make decisions towards a common goal as a team. Effective collaboration will allow you and other team members to achieve a level of synergy that will create a higher level of awareness and solve problems more effectively.
Understanding organizational collaboration is important in today’s workplace when we need to work together effectively with each other and with our customers. It is especially important in the healthcare environment where organizations have changed significantly over the past decade because of the Affordable Care Act, increasing financial pressures on hospitals, and other changes that have occurred in our industry.
Conclusion
The healthcare environment is changing rapidly due to new laws and increased government regulations as well as financial pressures on hospitals. Organizational changes, such as healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act, affect both the clinical and administrative aspects of healthcare such as electronic health records (EHR), infection control, quality improvement efforts, medication safety, patient satisfaction, triage of patients in emergency departments (EDs), and decision making throughout the continuum of care. The need to collaborate effectively among multidisciplinary teams has become more important than ever before to improve patient care and safety in order to reduce medical errors that occur within healthcare organizations.