The Power of Collaboration: Unlocking Business Value through Effective Project Team Dynamics

(981 words/4 minute read)

The Value of Collaboration

In the constantly evolving environments our change agents face, one of the things that technology has helped us with the most is our ability to collaborate. But collaboration is not the end all answer. It is a means; a way; even a technique, and an approach, that enables the delivery of business value.  Yet for today and tomorrow’s leaders, fostering a culture of collaboration is not just a nice-to-have; it's a strategic imperative that directly impacts the value delivered to the business.

Collaboration within project teams transcends the mere exchange of ideas; it's about harnessing collective intelligence, diverse skill sets, and unique perspectives. In an environment where projects are becoming increasingly complex, the ability to tap into the strengths of each team member becomes a competitive advantage. Senior team managers must recognize that collaboration is not a buzzword but a fundamental driver of innovation and efficiency.

Collaboration WITH Your Stakeholders

Now, stepping back real quick, that when I talk about collaboration, I am pointing to how people are collaborating WITH each other.  Or they are collaborating WITH the solution.  Or, collaborating WITH the challenge.  The engagement and participation of a team mentality no matter what the challenge is leads to successful outcomes.  That collaboration is almost a mindset of knowing that the sum of all the parts is far greater than any individual piece.  So as leaders in our organizations, we have to consider what we are doing to foster this collaborative environment.  Ask yourself if you are collaborating WITH your team?  Or, are you directing TO your team?  Being on the same side of the challenge in your team turns you into a proactive partner rather than a demanding dictator.  Ask what you can do WITH them to help everyone be successful.  Ask what is needed such that the team can collaborate with the right people in the right spaces.  Create that environment where collaboration can happen without asking.  You simply give them the business direction or defined need, not the how. 

Collaborating WITH Technology

One of the best ways “how” to collaborate comes in our growing technology.  I’m a huge fan of the explosion in collaboration technologies.  Having space for people to collaborate that welcome the in-person teams, the online participants, and the hybrid scenarios our workforces are going to be encountering is critical to work productivity.  Nothing kills a collaboration session faster than when people can’t see or hear each other let alone see the work they are supposed to be working on together!  I greatly enjoy helping teams collaborate WITH technology so that they can be more collaborative in their work in both my workshops and online courses, including LinkedIn Learning. The thing for leadership is knowing that this is just the tool that might enable collaboration.

The Business Value of Collaboration

Now in asking Chat GPT about collaboration’s value, it talked about “enhanced creativity and innovation” and “increased employee engagement”, with sources cited below.  However, it is a very hard line to show that your work and especially investments, both time and money, into creating engaged employees and fostering cultures of creativity and innovation drives business profits.  Sure, there is lots of work done to know the value of engagement and employee retention that definitely can be defined in monetary terms to an organization.  Rather instead, I want my business teams to look at the business value of collaboration.  If I have people and technology actually collaborating WITH each other, I can show the value!  Many of us don’t even need a technical background to know how frustrating it is when one computer system or application does NOT talk with another application and you are wasting time duplicating data or manually having complete tasks.  Time is money!  The thing here is that even with the technology I just mentioned, your user has a purpose.  They have a task or function to complete that accomplishes a goal.  The collaboration enables that goal to happen better, faster, smarter and, therefore, more business value.  The thing here is to focus on PURPOSE.

The Purpose of Collaboration

Collaboration always has a purpose. And I think this is the biggest challenge our leaders need to consider when putting collaboration as a key area to concentrate on for their teams, and their work processes. Collaboration is a method and way to build in that engagement and even excitement and do amazing work.  In fact, when teams are having fun, most of them don’t even consider themselves to be “working”!  That’s what often happens with great teams that collaborate WITH each other.  They do all those natural team activities leaders seek to have on teams that include trust, participation, support, proactive challenging, and even having a good time. Those are all elements though of successful collaboration yet most businesses won’t say that they are in the business of trust. Most businesses don’t say they are in the business of participation.  Most businesses DO say, they are in the business of providing a service or product. Successful collaboration provides those great service or product offerings.  Successful collaboration provides the creative insights and new perspectives to take on existing products and services. And successful collaboration harnesses the essence of innovation to dream up the products and services of tomorrow.

Collaboration – the Powerhouse Technique

Just like techniques: there are no bad techniques.  Most techniques are great when used at the right time with the right people with the right environment for the right purpose.  The same applies with collaboration.  Collaboration is about the right people working WITH each other, collaborating on the right idea together and strategically collaborating to determine how to deliver the maximum value for all stakeholders.  Leadership defines the purpose and then structures the working environment to enable collaboration to occur.  Don’t define the how.  Give them the what and why.  Then simply step back and let the team fly!   When teams are passionately collaborating WITH each other, AND WITH the business, then there is no limit to the success they can achieve!

Chat AI provided sources:

Promoting Creativity:

1. Accelerated Problem Solving:
• Source: Amabile, T. M., & Khaire, M. (2008). Creativity and the role of the leader. Harvard Business Review.
2. Enhanced Creativity and Innovation:
• Source: West, M. A. (2002). Sparkling fountains or stagnant ponds: An integrative model of creativity and innovation implementation in work groups. Applied psychology, 51(3), 355-387.

Increased Employee Engagement:

1. Improved Decision-Making:
• Source: Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279.
2. Increased Employee Engagement:
• Source: Towers Perrin. (2007). Global workforce study. Towers Perrin.
3. Leverage Technology for Collaboration:
• Source: Richter, A., Koch, M., Hillmann, J., & Jeppesen, L. B. (2015). Collaboration in interdisciplinary research and development projects: An empirical study. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), 721-734.