Leaders: If you want team collaboration, don’t be a stranger

Want your people to work together? The leadership team plays a bigger role than you might think.

What we'll cover

Collaboration starts at the top

Picture an orchestra. The musicians are world-class. The music is tried and tested. The venue is sold out. But the conductor?

If the conductor doesn’t show up and lead the way, each musician does their own thing. The strings speed up. The brass drags. Percussion is having its own little party in the back.

The same thing happens in the workplace.

You can hire the best people, invest in the smartest collaboration tools, and launch a jam-packed schedule of team-building activities. But without a leader actively bringing people together — and modelling the kind of team collaboration you want to see — you fail to see the desired results.

Collaboration is a by-product of consistent leadership behaviors — along with the right systems and practices. Find out what you can do to encourage your people to work together and stop going it alone.

Leaders are a catalyst for collaboration

There’s a strong link between internal communication and collaboration. When workplace communication is open and effective, collaboration comes much easier.

The right comms tools take you part of the way. But it’s leaders who decide the style and tone of communication. They set the stage for how information is shared, decisions made, and conflicts resolved.

Most importantly, they shape psychological safety within your organization. This is the belief that it’s safe to speak up, challenge ideas, and share new perspectives — all of which are vital to effective collaboration.

Common collaboration blockers: Where leaders are going wrong

Collaboration brings many benefits — including increased efficiency, productivity, and employee engagement. But you may be missing out on all the above if leadership is displaying the following collaboration-blocking behaviors.

Playing favorites

When leaders give certain people or teams special treatment, everyone sees it. Opportunities, information, and recognition flow toward the chosen few. Other employees stop bothering to contribute. Over time, trust erodes and people assume collaboration is shorthand for helping someone else to shine.

A closed leadership style

When leaders are reluctant to share information or delegate tasks, when they struggle to admit mistakes or ask for help, they model a non-collaborative style of leadership and communication. Employees are likely to follow suit, gatekeeping workplace knowledge and keeping their guard up.

Siloing teams

Failing to encourage cross-department collaboration creates silos. Projects are contained within one team. This limits the sharing of ideas, causes duplicate work, and prevents teams from seeing the bigger picture. Collaboration becomes the exception, not the rule.

Leading only through email or announcements

Relying solely on email or one-way announcements leads to poor comms engagement. It’s then hard for leaders to convey information — on corporate strategy, common goals, and company culture — and to encourage the two-way communication you need for effective collaboration.

Not inviting feedback from all levels

Leaders who only hear from their inner circle miss out on well-rounded insights. If you don’t proactively seek perspectives from every level, you risk building strategies in an echo chamber — and making it clear to certain groups of workers that their contribution isn’t valued.

Leadership behaviors that encourage collaboration

We’ve looked at what could be going wrong. Now, let’s look at what leaders can do to get it right. To improve teamwork in the workplace, good leaders consistently demonstrate these collaborative behaviors.

Modelling open communication

Collaboration thrives when leaders share information openly and honestly — and when they create opportunities for employees to respond, ask questions, and contribute ideas. Acting on feedback is also important. It shows that employee input is valued. And that leadership isn’t afraid to adapt and admit mistakes.

Consistently demonstrate this style of communication and employees will adopt these behaviors as their own, helping you pave the way for effective collaboration across the organization.

Recognizing and celebrating cross-team wins

If a joint project succeeds, shout about it. Not just in the quarterly meeting, but in the moment. Share teamwork achievements in real time, and allow employees to add their congratulations, too.

When praise comes from the highest levels of your organization and is amplified across the organization, employees see that working together is valued and celebrated.

Showing up regularly and authentically

Only picking up the microphone when there’s big news to share? Then you’re missing out on opportunities to engage and align your workforce.

Show up regularly on the communication channels your employees like to use and — once you’re there — be yourself. Share an unpolished video message. Tell stories about real people.

By going beyond formal emails and announcements, you make yourself visible, approachable, and aligned with the day-to-day work of employees. Again, this is great for building psychological safety and setting norms around workplace communication.

Embedding collaboration into company culture: 6 practical tips

Beyond individual leader behavior, the right systems, policies, and practices can bake collaboration into company culture. Here’s what leaders can do to make teamworking an expected and celebrated part of the workplace.

#1. Make cross-functional projects the norm

Cross-functional collaboration helps you solve problems faster and more effectively. When launching a new project, consider which teams should get a seat at the table. Then, give these teams the time, support, and tools they need to work together.

#2. Providing tools and spaces (digital + physical) for collaboration

The right supportive environment makes all the difference. Breakout spaces encourage collaboration within your physical workplace. But you need digital collaboration tools too. That might mean creating a central hub of resources and information — where everyone, from remote teams to frontline crews, is kept in the loop.

#3. Set collaboration as a performance metric for managers

What gets measured gets managed. You can encourage managers to develop teamwork skills by evaluating them on collaboration outcomes. Recognize the joint projects and information sharing that goes on under their watch, and they’re more likely to encourage collaborative behaviors.

#4. Provide training

Collaboration relies on soft skills, like open communication, active listening, empathy, and negotiation. These skills don’t always come naturally, so it pays to provide training. With the right support, employees have a better understanding of collaborative behaviors, and managers know how to encourage them.

#5. Ask for employee feedback

Regularly seek feedback from employees and you show them that their opinions and ideas matter. To build trust and psychological safety even further, close the feedback loop. Whether you’re surveying employees on the state of internal communication, their engagement levels, or the latest shift swap policy, share survey results and the action you plan to take.

#6. Regularly revisit and refine collaboration rituals

The needs of your teams are liable to change. The collaboration tools that worked two years ago might feel clunky now. The teamwork strategies you put into play may no longer feel relevant to the makeup of your teams. Leaders should make it a habit to review and refresh the collaboration rituals they’ve established to ensure that teamwork remains effective.

How the right collaboration tools can help

Leaders have a huge impact on workplace collaboration. They set the tone. But with all the will in the world, dispersed teams will find it hard to collaborate without the right digital communication tools. You need collaboration software for remote teams, frontline workers, and office-based staff to facilitate knowledge sharing and project management. Here’s what to look for.

Centralized communication platforms

Updates, files, and conversations scattered across multiple apps? Then you’re creating friction and encouraging siloed working. A tool like Blink puts all internal communications and essential files in one centralized hub. As a mobile-first tool, these resources are available to any employee with a smartphone. So everyone is kept in the loop.

Real-time feeds, stories, and live updates

Leaders can use digital channels to reinforce collaborative behaviors daily, not just at once-in-a-blue-moon meetings. You can use a Story, a live update, or a recognition post to highlight teamwork lessons and wins. In doing so, you show that collaboration is happening — and that it’s valued.

Integration with existing systems

The best collaboration tools don’t expect people to drop what’s working. Instead, they connect the dots. Blink integrates with your other workplace software — so employee communications, collaboration, and project management can all live in one place. Teams don’t have to hop between apps — instead, they can focus on tackling the task at hand together.

Lead the way: Make collaboration part of your day-to-day

If you’re committed to improving collaboration in the workplace, you can’t be the conductor who hides in the wings.

Leaders have to be visible and present. They need to use every update, recognition post, and meeting as a chance to model the teamwork strategies they want their workforce to follow.

Because collaboration is built by leaders who demonstrate collaborative behaviors themselves. By leaders who listen as much as they speak, who establish a culture of psychological safety, and who welcome the input of employees from all levels of the organization.

Combine a collaborative leadership style and the right teamworking tools and you give employees everything they need to achieve more, together.

‍Blink. And use leadership comms to supercharge collaboration.