By Sam Ast, Re-Entry Workforce Development Specialist, Goodwill of Western Missouri & Eastern Kansas
This blog will explain various techniques for collaborating well with others at work and why it is important to do so. Beyond outlining mere frameworks for strengthening teamwork, the following also intends to add to the discussion around how to best elevate your unique talents and the talents of others at work. The objective is to help you increase your individual contributions to organizational or company efforts while helping contribute to more successful group results, as well.
Why Collaborate?
The motivations for learning to better leverage the cumulative talents of everyone involved in any particular work environment are numerous. Aside from efficiency, there is strong potential that doing so will make your time on the job both easier and more enjoyable. Whatever the reasons are — be it efforts to improve company culture, foster new ideas or build greater trust among employees — there are several helpful ways to jumpstart this process and to ensure these joint efforts remain worthwhile and productive.
How to Jumpstart Collaboration
First, to ignite cooperation between individuals it is important to clearly recognize and understand the roles and responsibilities of others. Doing so enables you to decide who would be helpful in certain scenarios, as well as when and how they could become a positive addition to any potential endeavor or project.
For example, if you are a car salesman looking to increase your performance at the dealership, understanding vehicle specifications and knowing the available inventory could prove useful. So would possessing an ability to formulate and compile a concise and comprehensive visual representation of the number of cars you’ve sold over time if you need to report your sales figures to the boss at an upcoming meeting. Perhaps generating figures that demonstrate your contribution to corporate profits and individual commissions would be of benefit, too. If your work product has not been great recently, having the foresight to strategize and create a plan to do better may demonstrate to your supervisor that you are serious about your work and strive to do more.
Growing Together
Gaining the knowledge and wherewithal necessary to meet these expectations on your own can be difficult and time-consuming. That said, much reward can stem from the help and support of colleagues. In the case of the car dealer, speaking with the mechanics on-site, brainstorming with top associates who regularly do well, or talking with administrative staff who may have insight into technology that you normally don’t use may be extremely helpful.
Learning how to initiate and navigate through processes like these is crucial to professional improvement. Relating with co-workers in creative and helpful ways involves discovering and utilizing the expertise and skills of others to incorporate their insights into your own work.
Despite the obvious draw of such collaboration, not everyone will always see the value of partnership. In teamwork, not everyone stands to benefit from the end result. However, that is not its invariable purpose. Collective action does not need to provide equitable results for all involved in order to make sense. That said, the need to associate with others in some capacity is inherent in almost every line of work. Because of this, knowing how to do so well is important.
Make the Most of Collaboration
There are a few ways to make the most out of joint efforts with coworkers. One is by working toward clearly defined goals. If everyone knows what they’re tasked with completing and why, chances are high that these benchmarks will be met.
Another important aspect is to provide strong guidance regarding what each member’s function is within the unit. If these roles are explained well, communication and efforts between individuals will be easier. Lastly, the presence of some sort of leadership structure will help define and implement all of the above components.
With hundreds of career centers providing essential resources and personalized support, Goodwill® can help people overcome barriers and find meaningful work. Our career navigators are committed to making dreams come true by offering career guidance, résumé assistance, skills certification, application help, interview prep and ongoing support, including financial assistance that can help to enable you in your journey to find work.
Remember, you are not alone on this journey. If you need assistance with career readiness, developing marketable job skills or overall counseling regarding any of your employment needs or questions — we are here for you! Please stop by a Goodwill career center to learn more about how Goodwill can help you.
