Don’t we all want to harbor a good, creative culture in office?

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have an innovative culture where everybody is striving to achieve more?

Collaborative communicative offers a way of attaining this culture sooner than later. The efficiency implemented through collaborative working further ensures that the productivity of the whole workplace improves.

Let’s dive in and analyze how collaborative communication can transform HR department.

What Is Collaborative Communication?

Collaborative communication encourages a way of working in which everyone has an equal say in decisions. Simply put, every employee can give their inputs and creative ideas. This helps the HR team make everyone feel valued.

To understand collaborative communication clearly, you need to first understand the terms collaborative team and communication.

While collaborative team means the people working to achieve a certain goal, communication means an easy flow of idea between these people.

When all these are combined, an advanced, more efficient system is achieved which helps organizations in various ways. Let’s see how.

Why It Matters?

Before understanding the importance of collaborative communication, first, know how the traditional system worked.

Even a decade back, the only communication system that we knew was hierarchical. This means that the head of the company or the person handling the project would communicate processes to the manager. The manager would inform of the same to the team lead. Then, the team lead would go to the team and communicate the same. While there is nothing wrong with the system, creativity is often trapped in various stages.

For instance, imagine if your team is working on a graphic-oriented project. The person who is actually making the graphics should have a say in the overall strategy. This will help the organization improve the deliverables.

When the traditional system of communication is replaced with collaborative communication, innovation becomes the top priority. Diverse people start collaborating, which means new idea originate every day.

Honestly, collaborative communication is not rocket science. It is just how we should communicate in the office. Both the organization and employees benefit from this collaboration.

How to Achieve Collaborative Communication?

1. The Environment

Before starting this culture, you need to ensure that your office has the right environment for collaborative communication. Hence, start by getting everyone from managers to team members on board with the idea. Then, help everyone understand their specific role in the project aligned with the overall organizational goal.

Once you have given it a start, you can move ahead and start collaborating with the whole team.

2.  Effective Channel

You need an effective channel to freely communicate. Although this is not necessarily a mandatory thing for a small team, it is of utmost importance for a large team. For instance, if half of your team sits offshore, you need to be able to collaborate with them on certain things. The team working with you has the right to get involved in the project.

Today, freelancers and consultant culture have also increased the need for an effective communication channel. The best way is through cloud technology.

3. Interpersonal Connections

You can reduce most of the communication gap through the cloud but you still need additional support for conference calls. Let’s say you need to get every team member onboard to know the issues in a long-term, elite project. For this, you can simply pitch every freelancer, consultant, and offshore team on a conference call. Later, individual team members can sit together to collectively find out solutions to issues.

4. Streamlined Working

Earlier, with a hierarchical structure, mistakes were rectified in slow motion. The orders came from the top management to ensure everything is pre-approved and in-line with the requirements given by professional on the top position. But, when everybody collaborates to come to a solution, everyone knows the end goal. They know the thought process behind a process as they have helped in shaping it.

Hence, even if a few mistakes seep into working, it can be easily rectified by anyone. People at each level can give their feedback and ensure everything is streamlined from day-one of the project.

Conclusion

Collaborative communication is the future of businesses and HR department as well. Previously, the communication pipeline had some serious lag, delayed responses, and sluggish working pattern. When collaborative communication is implemented, the value of every process is potentially increased. However, ensure that you get everyone on the same page first and also use the right technology to support smooth communication.