Creating a supportive and collaborative workplace is key to driving up employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity. Employees who feel like their ideas and creativity are encouraged are more likely to share more often. You’ll get unique perspectives and deep insight your competitors may never have access to. You’ll also foster empathy and brand loyalty in your company, which is excellent for your bottom line. Get started with these tips:
Model the Behavior You Want to See
This truth stands up in the workplace, in the home, and anywhere else where leadership is required. You must behave in the way you expect your employees to behave. There are countless examples in the world and throughout history of hypocrisy and contradictions of bad leaders. The consequences are always grim. Greed, corruption, exclusivity, and cutthroat behavior are highly infectious and will spread throughout a company quickly.
The good news is that so will empathy, communication, collaboration, encouragement, and support. Treat your employees like valued members of a large family. Ask for their insight and listen for answers. Implement their suggestions and give them credit. When they’re sick, send a sympathy care package from the whole team. And when they’re well, offer rewards for great work, like a team leadership position. Your team will quickly follow suit.
Communicate Effectively
You cannot have support and collaboration without communication. Gossip, backstabbing, and manipulation in the workplace can create a toxic environment fast. The first step to take is to let your entire organization know that gossip and malicious behavior will not be rewarded. In fact, it will be seen as a failure of leadership and team members who engage in it will not be promoted.
Then, make sure you have an open door policy for all of your employees. And ensure your managers have the same practice. To encourage your employees to come to you with issues and share their ideas, engage in one-on-one meetings and coaching sessions. Ask open-ended questions, and respond positively to their answers.
Recognize Employees Who Work Well with Others
When you see your employees following the examples you and your managers are setting, recognize them. Much stronger than punishment for bad behavior is a reward for good behavior. This positive approach shows employees that they are both on the right track and that you want to see more of it.
You can take recognition to the next level by publicly praising collaborative employees in a meeting or via a team-wide email. Promote your most supportive team members to positions of leadership, and ensure your teams understand this was the reason for the promotion. Then, have your strong, supportive leaders coach others to behave in the same way.
Optimize Team Sizes and Define Roles
It can be hard to collaborate when the team is too large. People tend to get lost, or worse, hide, in overly large teams. Others will intentionally take a backseat and not do the work necessary for peak performance. These attitudes breed bitterness and resentment, and anyone who tries to lead in these situations can be labeled as bossy and controlling rather than helpful.
Take a look at your projects and assign the fewest possible people to a single team. Then, define the roles clearly and have your team divide tasks among the roles. Also, have your team choose a project leader. They’ll be more likely to follow someone they elect and collaborate with each other. This microcosm of teamwork will spread out across the company in a ripple effect.
Promote Creativity
One of the most powerful qualities you can have in an organization is creativity. It’s impossible to force, and highly difficult to “phone in.” You’ve got to have engaged employees in a supportive environment to truly nurture creativity. It’s up to you, as the leader, and your managers to create this environment. When creativity is promoted, your environment naturally becomes a supportive and collaborative one. Creativity breeds creativity.
Consider offering your employees more flexibility when it comes to their work routines, schedules, and environments. Let employees telecommute when they’re not needed in the office. Offer paid time off for ideas or work that lead to improved company outcomes. And create an office space that allows employees to breathe, move, and flex their creative sides.
Foster Diversity and Inclusion
Finally, few spaces are more supportive and collaborative than those that are both diverse and inclusive. When employees have to honor everyone in the room, and “everyone” comes from a different background, perspective, and belief system, support becomes essential. It may be challenging at first, but once you let your team know that this is the new normal, they’ll adjust.
Ensure you promote communication among your team members and encourage everyone to both listen to and have patience with one another. Diverse workplaces are more productive and more profitable than homogenous ones, but it takes time to get there. Misunderstandings will occur, of course. Just be sure to include everyone in discussions of progressing through difficulties.
In the end, creating a supportive and collaborative workplace is good for every individual in your company and for the company as a whole. Businesses perform better, people feel happier, and the world becomes a brighter place. It’s a huge step forward to even be thinking about making these changes. Just take one step at a time, and be sure to listen to all the voices in your organization. You’ll all be collaborating and supporting each other in no time.
