Stronger Collaboration Skills are the Secret to Office Teamwork

Cross-functional collaboration has been on the rise in organizations for the past 20 years driven by the growing complexity of projects and the need for organizations to be both innovative and efficient.

But team dysfunction is high.

The skills needed to guide collaborative interactions aren’t necessarily considered when pulling in technical experts on a project. Teamwork training has been shown to improve outcomes.

Collaboration and teamwork are prevalent in many industries, nowhere more than the healthcare field. Patients rarely see only one medical professional. As an example, a specialist is called in when a pregnant patient experiences heart complications. This healthcare professional’s unique knowledge is shared when needed.

And this is true for collaboration everywhere. It allows for the sharing of workers’ unique skills, knowledge and perspectives in addressing fast-moving challenges. Cross-functional teams form and dissolve as the need for them fluctuates, pulling in workers across departments with relevant skills based on the task at hand.

And when it works, the results are improved business performance and innovation in terms of products, services, and processes.

But, nearly 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional, according to author and Stanford University faculty member Behnam Tabrizi. His research from several years ago pointed to team failure in three key areas: meeting a planned budget, staying on schedule, and adhering to specifications.

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How can organizations prevent team dysfunction and help improve collaboration?

Advances in connectivity tools and easy access to shared data help facilitate collaboration in an increasingly hybrid work environment. Thinking about the pregnant patient mentioned earlier, doctors can easily access medical history and add their own notes to the digital chart. But tech tools are only one small part of team collaboration.

Because collaboration is interpersonal. 

That’s why it’s paramount that organizations get the right people and attitudes in place, as well as strive to develop the competencies that ensure successful collaboration, according to research by the Warwick Business School.

Their research from several years ago identified what makes an effective collaborator, pointing to ten key personality attributes organized into three categories:

1. Strategic and adaptive orientation – strategically minded, creative/innovative, leadership
2. Effective information exchange – good communicator, open to sharing, good listener
3. Prioritizing common values – team orientation, empathetic, believe in collaboration, behave ethically

The easiest solution to ensuring the collaboration capability you need for high-functioning teams is to hire for it. But with good reason, organizations usually hire for technical expertise first. If they have the luxury of multiple qualified candidates, a personality test could help identify the collaboration qualities outlined and tip the scales in favor of one candidate.

However, if the top candidates (or existing employees) lack some of these soft skills, those who don’t naturally excel at teamwork can become more adept through training. Communication and emotional intelligence are crucial for successful collaboration.

These identified social skills help with three key team performance tasks: decision making, creative solutions and information sharing. And, according to research by Harvard University, “workers with higher social skills causally improve team performance beyond what their individual task-specific skills would suggest.”

Team training has proven effective in skills development

“Training for teamwork-based attitudes, behaviors and cognitions is necessary for a team to be an effective and productive unit,” according to research referenced in Team Training in Organizations. Team training, however, should not be confused with team-building activities, such as retreats or games. Team training, instead, focuses on things like information sharing, cooperation and shared mental models – improving outcomes that depend on every individual team member to contribute.

In that vein, the most effective team training, according to research, targets improving coordination strategies and reducing overt communication errors. Topics would include: active listening, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, decision making, leadership, and strategic thinking.

Moving an organization’s employees around as their expertise is needed enables the business to adapt quickly and efficiently. But, the needed collaboration skills may be weak. By giving employees the tools to make them better collaborators, organizations help ensure the employees’ success and better teamwork outcomes.