9 Strategies to Improve Collaboration
for a Healthy, Flourishing Small Business Team
The last thing you want in today’s competitive business world is for your small business team to become a siloed organization closed off from free thinking and innovation. When your team is small, each member plays a vital role in the business’s overall success. Each person must feel heard and valued, and the team must employ the right mindsets, qualities, and tools to accomplish goals.
In other words, if you want your team to move your business in the right direction, finding ways to improve collaboration is essential. Below, SV Cultural Hub shares some strategies that will get you there!
Make Sure Your Business Is Ready to Go
Running a successful business requires careful setup and efficient management of resources, processes, and personnel. One of the primary ways to improve collaboration among your team members is to ensure your business is properly registered and up to date with current laws and regulations. In addition to registering your business, forming an LLC in Texas can protect each individual’s personal assets while still allowing you full control of your company’s operations. Fortunately, registering and establishing this type of organization is relatively simple — there are even services available online which can help guide you through the process. Ultimately, setting up legally ensures that everyone involved in your business knows their role and the expectations placed upon them so they can work together in synchronous collaborative efforts!
Define Your Team
Establish Your Standards
Your team must also establish both group and personal performance standards. Everyone should be using a common approach and strategy. Evaluate what your team’s standards are. Each employee should show commitment to the established standards and demonstrate trust in their colleagues while proving themselves trustworthy.
Of importance is to make sure that the team sees mistakes as learning opportunities. Each time one of your team members (or the team as a whole) experiences failure, take the time to determine what you can learn from it. This will also help to build trust and cooperation among the group.
Foster Cooperation
Nurture your team’s cooperation with team-building activities. You want to ensure negative energy doesn’t set in with your team. Along with setting standards, create clear goals with a clear path to success. And make sure your team members frequently interact with one another.
You will also want to prioritize integrity, ensuring that each employee understands that they should hold up to their end of any agreements made. By intentionally making and keeping agreements, each of your team members can build a track record of trustworthiness. Also, remember that each team member has a different story and comes from a different background. Encourage your employees to consider others in their language, tone, and customs.
Facilitate Internal Document Sharing
Much of effective team collaboration comes from having the right tools in place. You want to make sure it is easy for your team members to share and edit important internal files and projects. One way to improve this process is to use an online tool that will convert PDFs to Word documents. That way you can take PDF documents and put them in a word processor to edit the text or formatting.
You can make certain changes to PDFs, but you can’t make any major changes easily. Plus, even the editing capabilities that are available could end up consuming a lot of your team’s time. All you have to do with a conversion tool is upload the PDF, convert it, and complete your work in Microsoft Word. Once you are done editing, you can save the file as a PDF.
Additionally, many businesses rely on cloud storage to share documents internally. Cloud storage is a great way to share documents because it is accessible from anywhere and easy to use. Google Docs and MS Office365 are just two examples of cloud storage platforms that businesses can use to share documents. Google Docs is a free, web-based application that allows businesses to create, store, and share documents. MS Office365 is a subscription-based application that provides businesses with access to Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Both Google Docs and MS Office365 allow businesses to control who has access to their documents and set permissions for viewing, editing, or commenting. This makes internal document sharing easy and secure, as well as provides a form of backup.
Upgrade Your Project Templates
If your team is not using a good project template, now is the time to find one. Project templates are particularly helpful when a small business is getting ready to launch a new product or service. Since it can be such a complex process, you want a template in place that will prevent your team from overlooking any essential steps. That’s where a go-to-market strategy template comes into play.
This type of template will include many aspects of your strategy, including your business plan, marketing strategy, and any other relevant details about the release of your new product. While you could create your template, that could take a lot of time and energy. Consider a pre-made template that helps your teamwork through the entire process more efficiently; that way, you can use your saved time on other important business tasks.
Create a Pet-Friendly Office
Encourage Walking Breaks
Embrace the Positive Benefits of Celebration
Any business owner knows that happy employees are productive employees. When your team is feeling good about their work and their company, they’re more likely to be engaged and motivated to do their best. One way to keep morale high is to celebrate your successes together. Whether it’s hitting a sales goal or completing a big project, taking the time to stop and celebrate as a team can help everyone feel appreciated and proud of their accomplishments. This boost in morale can make a big difference in how your team works together and how they approach their jobs. So, the next time you reach a milestone, take a few minutes to celebrate with your team — it just might be the boost they need to stay happy and productive.
Collaboration is the key to small business success. When you implement strategies like ensuring your company is legally ready to do business, establishing standards, and fostering cooperation, you might be surprised by how quickly your team becomes more productive, efficient, and united. The above ideas are just a few ways you can start making changes. Keep researching for other methods of cultivating healthy collaboration among your team!
Cultural Hub offers an excellent coworking space that also features meeting rooms, event spaces, and a shop that offers an array of different beverages. To learn more about what we offer, please email us today at info@sententiavera.com.