What is collaborative culture?
The collaborative culture is a management model that values the participation of all professionals in a company, aiming at joint decision-making in favor of good results.
Have you ever stopped to think how a team made up of confident people can help in the company’s growth and development process?
This happens when employees are open to sharing their ideas without fear of judgment and criticism, in companies that invest in a collaborative culture .
Know that this management model brings many benefits to the organization and teams, in addition to increasing self-confidence in employees.
Take advantage of reading to understand what collaborative culture is, what are its advantages and how to implement it! Follow up!
The idea of sharing is on the rise and has gained strength in corporate spaces. Regardless of the type of division – of knowledge, thoughts, opinions, tasks or any other – the tendency is for people to become more and more aware of the need for mutual help and the importance of everyone’s collaboration.
In the job market, there is a growing innovative mentality that doing it together can often be better than doing it alone.
Therefore, the collaborative culture can be understood as valuing the participation of all employees in the processes carried out by the company.
That is, teams are encouraged to work together and everyone should feel free to expose their ideas, while being aware that they must respect the ideas of others without judgment, debauchery or criticism that could cause embarrassment among colleagues. .
This is a horizontal management model, very present in the democratic leadership style , in which leaders encourage teams to participate in actions, including the most strategic ones.
Workers, on the other hand, understand that the main objective is to collaborate to achieve or improve the company’s results.
However, as much as it may seem like a good measure to adopt internally — since the company and employees will benefit from it — the company is not always able to promote a culture of collaboration in a healthy way.
This is due to the fact that many managers are unaware of this concept (or neglect its effectiveness) and its advantages and, mainly, do not understand the force that an engaged team exerts on the organization’s results and how this can be promising.
Another situation is when leaders and managers even understand the benefits of a collaborative attitude, but do not know exactly what to do or how to invest in this organizational format. Keep in mind that here you will stay on top of all this!
What are the advantages of adopting a collaborative culture?
Once the concept of collaborative culture in companies is understood, it is important to know, in fact, what are the benefits of it.
We advance that there are several, but below we select the ones that most raise the level of a company towards prosperity.
1-Process review and innovation
Hearing different opinions provides the opportunity to review company concepts, standards and culture.
For example, if a process has always been done one way, but an employee had an innovative idea to perform the task in another way, why not evaluate and possibly implement that idea?
In addition, when the vision, mission and values of an organization are outdated and in disagreement with what is being practiced by the market, it is important to welcome the points of view of those who feel free to express their opinion and bring a new form. to think that it can be positive for the entire company.
2-Team appreciation
Who doesn’t like to be heard and feel valued, especially in the workplace? When a professional realizes that he is contributing to the team and that his actions have value for the company, he feels much more engaged and motivated. This is also a great strategy to retain talent in the company.
3-Opportunity for professional development
Workers who feel comfortable collaborating with their ideas also have higher self-esteem and more confidence to show the potential of their work.
Thus, they are encouraged to develop and seek ever better levels, with the aim of becoming new leaders.
In addition, the collaborative culture promotes opportunities for employees to think outside the box and use creativity to propose solutions to the challenges faced daily and analyze how they can generate results differently.
4-more productivity
An engaged team produces more ! When a collaborative team understands its true role, it knows that the work of each one is decisive and that each collaborator is a key piece for the group to function in the best way.
In addition, the spirit of collaboration facilitates mutual help and speeds up the development of activities.
5-Improvement of the organizational climate
A collaborative culture makes workers more confident and they feel like they really belong in the company.
With this, the organizational climate tends to be much healthier, since they will be more satisfied.
In addition, competitiveness becomes healthy, as it is understood that collaboration promotes positive results for all.
6-Enhancement of the company’s image
It’s no secret that professionals talk to each other about the pros and cons of the companies they work for.
What is also not new is that all companies like to be recognized and valued by their employees, as this contributes to the achievement of a good image in the job market.
After all, companies that do not recognize the work of their teams and do not allow for dialogue, reflection and everyone’s contribution end up being burned by the professionals themselves, and this jeopardizes the retention of talent and the recruitment of qualified people.
How to implement a collaborative culture with 6 tips
Understand that the first step to investing in this type of strategy requires the adoption of a collaborative company profile in your organizational culture .
That is, before teaching employees, leaders must understand the fundamental pillar of this premise and assume this position in their own leadership .
1. Teach managers that every attitude or opinion should be valued
In the corporate environment, the examples of leaders count for more than many training sessions, meetings and team alignments.
It doesn’t do much good for a company to spread the concept of mutual collaboration if a manager neglects or despises the opinion of certain professionals — or most of them.
This invalidates the entire process of conquest of the collaborative culture, because, in addition to these workers having their credibility shaken with their colleagues, they also lose self-confidence, the desire to contribute and become unmotivated to perform their activities. Thus, no matter how small a share, it must be valued.
2. Strengthen teamwork
Employees are always very focused on carrying out tasks alone. In many cases, this happens because they want to show their talent and how competent they are.
In others, for lack of openness to ask for help and for fear of being incompetent or weak.
Therefore, it is part of the leadership and the HR sector to raise awareness of the importance of working together .
It is possible, for example, to hold a general meeting to inform about the arrival of a new project in the company, explain the demand and brainstorm or even ask them to carry out daily activities in small groups.
3. Encourage healthy competition internally
Another factor that contributes to the fact that professionals increasingly want to do assignments alone is the fear of having their ideas plagiarized by colleagues.
In this sense, it is important that the institution promotes actions that encourage healthy competition and reinforces that it is attentive to the behavior of those who lack ethics within the company.
4. Create collaborative workspaces
The trend is for more companies to adopt the home office as a definitive work format.
However, if this is not yet an efficient solution for your company, a good strategy is to encourage collaboration through physical space as well.
Side-by-side workstations, without so many walls or partitions, help in the exchange of ideas.
This is a way to promote dialogue and interaction in a natural way between employees and make it easier for them to see when the other needs help.
In addition, create environments so that they can socialize during breaks, such as coffee time. Ideal time to have a quick chat and catch up on your colleague’s routine.
5. Invest in technology to highlight results
Who said that technology could not transform and humanize relationships? There are several ways to exploit it for the benefit of the collaborative culture.
It is possible, for example, to collect results from each team and demonstrate them during a monthly meeting, in which everyone will have access to their group and individual achievements.
Another idea is to use tools that allow the integration of work and real-time monitoring by the entire team.
That way, everyone can monitor each other, charge for something pending, track the progress of each activity and give each other feedback .
6. Educate for transparent communication
Adopting collaborative management also requires the understanding that employees are much more than activity performers, they are also business partners .
And when they also understand this, they feel much more comfortable in contributing to conflict resolution and facing a crisis, for example.
Transparent communication can also be encouraged through more open dialogue.
If activities are to be developed together, it is essential that all steps are clear to everyone, as well as who is responsible for each process. If this is not evident, there must be space for everyone to be able to clear their doubts.
Understand that, currently, there is no way for a company to survive or sustain itself without adopting a collaborative culture.
Therefore, know that the implementation of collaborative attitudes in the company is a continuous and uninterrupted process ; it is something that should always be disseminated, reviewed and reinforced internally.
It is also worth mentioning that the gains will not come overnight; this is a challenging job, but very advantageous in the medium and long term for the company.
The most important thing is to invest in this strategy little by little and you will see how, naturally, the organizational culture will change and the results will be better and better.
A collaborative culture also requires efficient self-management by everyone . Understand how it works and how it can help your teams develop better!
