Working collaboratively can often be overlooked, especially in large, multinational corporations. For business leaders, it is of value to take a step back and evaluate how they best promote and incorporate this– not only to enhance the skillset of employees, but also to boost brand perception, business ethos and commitment to inclusion.

It will be the case for crucial C-suite positions such as CEOs, COOs and CIOs to be the founders of change in this sense. A collaborative approach to working can provide those at the top of the board the opportunity to empower the team around them and allow this to trickle through the entire business. This can too encourage learning and inclusion within the workplace, which is something that, in modern workplaces, all business leaders should be focused on.

The consideration from influential members that line the boardroom of the importance of instilling collaborative working should not be overlooked.

Opportunities and benefits

Collaborative working can create endless opportunities for business leaders to enhance the work that their team produces. It is not enough for business leaders to passively discuss alternative methods of working within the company, there needs to be recognisable change delivered from the top of the hierarchy to show that they are serious about investing in the growth and agility of the business’s operations. By signalling an intent and demonstrating a desire to adopt this style of working, teams can work proactively to complete projects and deliver work on key strategies.

The recognition of adopting collaborative working can also assist with employee retention as your team gains a level of trust and sense of belonging within the working environment. This promotes learning opportunities too, as working together can align different skillsets and allow this to be shared through a peer to peer system amongst the team. Importantly here, learning from colleagues in this way not only means their successes but their failures too. This further promotes a culture of inclusion as we understand and appreciate other people’s outlooks.

 

 

Investing in your talent and measuring the successes

Equally, planning and implementing an effective means of working collaboratively goes a long way to showing that you care about investing in your team and the work that is delivered. This commitment fosters a growing sense of inclusion within the team, encouraging transparency, and the opportunity for the workforce to learn and thrive together.

Working collaboratively is only effective, though, if we encourage the ongoing monitoring, feedback and development of the way it is delivered. To be inclusive, working together requires everyone to be – to a certain extent – held accountable for their role in how it can lead to achieving the company’s key desirables and objectives. Equally here, with recent research suggesting that 74 per cent of millennials believing that their workplace is more innovative when the culture is more inclusive, there is a business case for promoting a collaborative and team-based approach.

There needs to be a bigger picture, a clear set of targets and a business case in mind to ensure that collaboration is working in the best way for the needs of the business. This is especially important too as businesses seek to get a hold on ensuring their responsibility to instil a culture of inclusion and promote continued development opportunities throughout the entire business are high on the agenda.

 

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