Collaboration at Work

(1/2 or 1 day options offered in the classroom or in our virtual classroom)

Overview:

Why is collaborative working important?

Collaboration is a critical component of the effective worker in today’s fast-paced business environment. Employees are expected to be able to adapt to situations where they have to work well with others outside their usual team in order to achieve combined goals. This means communicating effectively, developing trust, building relationships, leading with influence and being able to work fluidly across boundaries.

With the key knowledge and skills related to collaboration; leaders will become an integral part of their organization. Collaboration skills are not a ‘nice to have’; they are absolutely integral to the success of today’s leaders.

Working together is a key element of business today and more and more people are being asked to collaborate. This isn’t only happening within teams, also with other departments, outside suppliers, unions and even other organizations.

When carried out effectively, collaboration succeeds in solving problems by focusing on shared values and so means the solutions are longer lasting.  conventional decision-making can bring  about change through new rules and policies, but only collaboration can truly shift peoples’ underlying attitudes.

Collaboration allows participants to learn from one another and work toward a deeper understanding of important issues and constraints. Problem-solving power is shared in a collaborative process, and this often translates into a sense of shared responsibility for the issue/s.

The key components of this session are:

  • Defining Collaboration on your team
  • Options for Involvement
  • Key Characteristics of Collaboration
  • Benefits of Collaboration
  • Why Collaboration Fails
  • How to Make Collaboration Work, including;
  • Start the Process Effectively
  • Get and Keep People Involved
  • Ensure You Have Respectful Dialogue
  • Lead Productive Meetings
  • Addressing Potential Pitfalls

Workshop Learning Objectives:

Participants will:

  • Develop a clearly defined definition of what collaboration means
  • Explore the key characteristics of collaboration and what this means in practice
  • Identify the benefits of collaboration for the individual and organization
  • Look at methods of building an effective collaboration process
  • Address the potential pitfalls to working collaboratively

Who Should Participate?

Anyone in your organization.

Course Outline (PDF)