How To Become A Collaborative Leader?

When it comes to success, you can’t deny the fact “Teamwork makes the dream work”. However, nowadays, teamwork isn’t the same as what it used to be before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey, around 58% of employees want to work remotely at least once a week, while 35% of employees want to work from home five days a week. It has also been reported that around 87% of employees want to work flexibly. 

Considering these stats, we can say that hybrid and remote work culture has become an integral part of most industries. As a result, the workforces become distributed, and more organisations are removing hierarchical leadership models and opting for collaborative leadership. 

What Is Collaborative Leadership?

Collaborative leadership is a team-based approach to leadership that encourages open communication and collaboration between team members to make decisions and take action. This type of leadership is often seen in business and government settings, where it can help promote creativity and innovation. Collaborative leadership can also be effective in situations where team members have different skills and knowledge to bring to the table.

Not only does collaborative leadership help make informed decisions but also encourage motivation. In addition, it helps build strong teams with a sense of community and improve productivity and employee satisfaction. Organisations that use the collaborative leadership model can significantly boost employee collaboration and engagement. 

How To Be A Collaborative Leader?

Collaborative leadership is critical for employee satisfaction and the growth of an organisation.  It dictates how a team works together and how they collaborate to perform their job duties. 

That is why managers need to seek ways to improve their leadership skills, which can be done in the following ways:

Build a culture of trust: In order to be a successful collaborative leader, you need to gain the trust of your employees by listening to their problems and providing them with the best possible solution. You need to ask them frequently what they need to do their jobs. In addition, you should show interest in working with your colleagues, whether working from the office or at home. You can use various collaboration tools to connect with your remote team members to discuss projects and understand their needs.

Choose the right collaborative tools: While there are several collaborative tools available in the market, not every tool can cater to the needs of every organisation. So, you need to find collaboration tools while considering your team size and company needs. Choose a tool that allows you to add all your team members, even if your team size grows. Examples of these tools include RingCentral cloud communication solution and cloud collaboration platforms. These tools allow you to stay connected with your team members via chat, voice call and video conferencing irrespective of their location.

Create a safe space for employees: Collaborative leaders are great at building a safe space for their employees so that they can easily share their ideas, perspective, and problems without any fear of reprisal. When your employees feel safe and free to express themselves, they can easily share their formal or informal feedback. 

Give clear instructions: When it comes to a project’s success or failure, the instructions provided by its leaders play a pivotal role. The primary reason behind the task’s failure is the lack of adequate instructions. Ensure you provide your team members with clear, detailed, and specific instructions about the project goals.

Recognise successes: No matter how great your team is, they need to know when they’ve done well. Recognising your employees for doing great work is an ideal way to motivate them to give their best to any project. Make sure you appreciate your employees whenever they achieve a goal or milestone.

Hire A Unified Cloud Communication Service Provider

Collaborative leadership skills are critical for management nowadays. It’s all about being a leader who keeps all their employees on the same platform and invests in unified cloud communication platforms to ensure that all team members are working together effectively.

If you are also seeking ways to improve your work culture and leadership skills, you must think about investing in unified cloud communication solutions. However, choosing the right platform is not easy.  Implementing a Unified Communications as a Service solution(such as global leaders in RingCentral 8×8, DialPad orGoTo Connect) can turn out to be a great option. They can also help you choose the right solution as per your business needs.

So, what are you waiting for? Find a unified cloud communication service provider & take your business to the next level!