Working Together: Building Collaboration Skills
Working together is like being part of an orchestra. Each instrument has a unique sound, but when played in harmony, they create something greater than the sum of their parts. In the same way, collaboration is not just about dividing tasks, it’s about combining strengths, respecting differences, and striving toward a shared goal. But harmony doesn’t happen by chance. It requires skills that grow and shift at every level of an organisation, from individual contributors to managers to strategic directors.
Individual Contributors: Laying the Foundation
For team members, collaboration begins with two powerful skills: communication and responsibility. Clear, respectful communication ensures that ideas are shared, misunderstandings are reduced, and teammates can rely on one another. When individuals also take responsibility for their role, they show accountability and reliability, qualities that build trust across the team.
Equally important is emotional intelligence, which allows contributors to approach feedback with curiosity rather than defensiveness. Instead of viewing feedback as criticism, emotionally intelligent employees reframe it as a learning opportunity. This shift turns everyday interactions into moments of growth, making the team stronger as a whole.
Managers: Creating the Environment for Success
Managers act as conductors of the orchestra, setting the tempo and guiding the flow of collaboration. Their ability to practise transparent communication provides clarity about expectations and ensures no one is left guessing about performance outcomes. Paired with performance management, this helps team members know exactly how their work connects to the bigger picture.
But effective management is about more than systems and outcomes, it’s about people. By creating psychological safety, managers make space for open dialogue, where team members can speak up without fear of judgment. A tip from Crucial Conversations reminds us that breakdowns often happen when conversations drift into silence (issues are avoided) or verbal violence (people push too hard). Managers who notice these patterns and steer discussions back to respectful, honest dialogue not only resolve conflict but strengthen resilience and trust across their teams.
Strategic Directors: Leading Through Influence
At the leadership level, collaboration extends beyond departments to the entire organisation and its stakeholders. Collaborative leadership ensures that diverse voices are included in decision-making, while strategic communication aligns people across varying priorities and perspectives.
Another critical skill is negotiation. Strategic directors must balance competing interests, financial, political, and social, while keeping people at the heart of their choices. When combined with social awareness, this skill fosters inclusivity and reminds us that leadership is less about power and more about influence. When directors model these behaviours, they set the tone for a culture of trust, fairness, and shared progress.
Bringing It All Together
Working together is not always easy. It requires emotional intelligence to regulate our responses, courage to speak up, and humility to listen. It asks managers to create spaces where people can thrive, and it challenges leaders to align vision with reality through influence, not force.
When each level of the organisation applies these skills, collaboration moves from being a buzzword to being a lived experience. Like an orchestra, we each bring different instruments to the table, but when we play in harmony, we create something meaningful, lasting, and greater than ourselves.
