How I See and Organize Teamwork and Collaboration

In my workplace I try to be a collaborative leader, who likes to carry her team along in every decision which may or may not always be in my control.

I work as a team player when it comes to guiding and supporting my co-workers to help resolve work difficulties. Especially when it comes to a new colleague, to make new team members feel at ease, try to help them get situated during their first few days or weeks on the job – even if it's just through little considerations like welcoming questions or giving them the low-down on where to grab lunch. Everything as a structure is covered during induction but settling them with new people around till they build contacts and understand their job role is where I always come to their help. It could be something as small as walking into a room of unfamiliar people, so I sit next to them at their first meeting. It's a small gesture that will make them feel more welcome. I share data and processes with them to familiarize them with expectations of the role. I help them understand processes by buddying up with them to let them observe how I do things to get comfortable. When people feel unappreciated in the workplace, it becomes harder and harder for them to see the benefit in going that extra mile. If there's no one there to recognize the work they put in, there's little motivation to continue to do more. That's where I always make it a point to appreciate. This can translate to verbal recognition in a company meeting or something as simple as a thoughtful email. I also help co-worker share their work load if they are over worked to resolve their work difficulties or if they are finding it difficult to work with some of coworkers than I try helping in resolving conflict or involve the Manager to help resolve the issue.

I deal with multiple stakeholders that are internal and external to my job role. In all given situations, I ensure my conduct is professional. Since most of my external stakeholders are off site so it becomes even more difficult to communicate with them but the key to my success has been communication through various media sources such as emails, telephone calls and survey monkey to communicate and seek feedbacks. I constantly conduct team meetings to get internal communication lines clear and use telephonic and survey monkey options to communicate to external stakeholders and seek their feedback. I also ensure transparent data sharing to promote trust between the stakeholders. Proactive and timely communication is another key to my stakeholder management. I remain humble and always avoid office gossip to present myself as a professional.

To me networking is about recognizing and taking advantage of valuable relationships to get things done and to achieve a goal. I use networking by working closely with other workers to be aware of potential and future needs or problems and devising strategies to address them. Through the process of participation in issues in the workplace also I establish my relationships and networks with the employees in it. I use networks to build a sense of common destiny and support. Thus, they help to empower individuals and strengthen my work team. I use networking both on a formal and informal basis as workplace is a ‘social system’. As in any other system, there are dependent and interdependent relationships. Emerging from team or group work is an inclination for individuals to collaborate, rather than work alone. I use collaboration with other individuals or groups to achieve team objectives. I feel when people work effectively with each other they are more motivated in their roles and are more likely to work collaboratively with others. Collaboration is relationship building or networking. I actively encourage positive relationship building within my team (e.g. through sports clubs, morning teas). These networks carry lots of information in the form of facts, gossip and rumor about issues affecting employee work. This let’s be understand my teams’ issues that I can then help resolve to make them more engaged and productive.

Conflict in the workplace might be inevitable, as employees have different personalities, goals, and opinions. Conflict management is one of the core responsibilities that I carry in my workplace. First, I try identifying the source of the conflict as the more information I have about the cause of the conflict, the more easily it could be resolved. To get the information, I would like to take input from all the parties involved directly or indirectly. As a manager, I need to give both parties the chance to share their side of the story. It gives me a better understanding of the situation, as well as it demonstrates my impartiality. The source of the conflict might be a minor problem that occurred months before, but the level of stress could grow to the point where the two parties have begun attacking each other personally instead of addressing the real problem. After getting each party’s viewpoint on the conflict, I try to identify how the situation could be changed. As mediator, I ensure that I am an active listener, aware of every verbal nuance, as well as a good reader of body language. I then try steering the discussion away from finger pointing and toward ways of resolving the conflict. I would then point out the merits of various ideas, not only from each other’s perspective, but in terms of the benefits to the organization.

I get them to a point to develop their independent action plans in the benefit of self and the team. I ensure it was documented and reviews after an agreed time frame.