The increasingly imposing market has demanded great changes within companies. And failing to apply the necessary changes on time can slow down business growth, making it less competitive, especially in an environment where competitors are increasingly aggressive.
One of the biggest challenges today is increasing productivity across the company by driving teams that deliver better results, right? And one of the solutions that they already use to overcome this problem is the application of the collaborative management method.
Do you want to know more about what collaborative management is and how to implement it? Keep reading this article and see how it can help you strategic planning your business, making it even more efficient!
What is collaborative management?
In general, collaborative management is a methodology that decentralizes decision-making. In the traditional model, a leader is responsible for dictating the rules and strategies alone. In collaborative management, everyone contributes to a final decision.
We have already been able to demonstrate from the professional profile analysis that millennials have different requirements in the workplace. Among them is a greater need for challenge, innovation, and recognition. Those born at the “turn of the millennium” also enjoy working in a more collaborative and dynamic environment where everyone can grow together in a coordinated way.
Collaborative management is a response to these and other needs. And in this model, the hierarchical structure is dissolved, and everyone has the same level of importance, being able to fully participate in the development of ideas and projects of the company.
What are the benefits of collaborative management?
In addition to understanding what Collaborative Management is about, learning the benefits of this methodology is also crucial and can make a big difference in the strategic planning of your company. With that in mind, we have selected some important points below that can help your business progress.
Some points of this methodology were already mentioned above, but to broaden the perspective, we have grouped the main benefits of Collaborative Management. Then:
1- Improve brainstorming to find solutions
Teams, even from different areas, can come together to offer different perspectives and expertise to solve common problems or even generate new ideas.
2- Increase sense of purpose
Employees see the value of working together, benefiting all parties and the company.
3- Equal participation
Once everyone receives the same treatment, communication between the different levels of the organizational structure improves. Also, everyone is more confident to share their ideas.
4- Access to skills and strengths
A collaborative environment encourages the use of everyone’s strengths and abilities, opening a space for personal development.
5- Develop skills and knowledge
Working together with people who have experience in various areas favors the exchange of knowledge. A collaborative environment also helps to learn how the company operates at all levels.
6- Better adaptation to change
The company adapts faster to market changes because it can better utilize the skills of each employee.
7- Greater team commitment
Collaborative management makes the whole team more engaged. After all, in a more horizontal management, employees become a fundamental part of the decision-making processes and they feel much more willing to contribute to the success of the company by proposing innovative solutions and ideas.
8- Quick responses to problems
Unlike vertical management, in which decisions are made only by a restricted group of leaders, collaborative management allows ideas to be discussed by a much larger group of people, at different levels of hierarchy. This process guarantees not only the possibility of making better decisions, but also faster and better thought-out solutions.
9- Talent retention
The upshot of all this is that professionals feel much more valued and challenged. And not only that, but workplace relationships also become healthier, making the employee bond with other team members and feel welcome.
For these benefits to be even more remarkable, the example must come from above. Pause and consider the following: How has collaborative management been done in your company so far? Are there managers capable of becoming a point of reference for employees?
How to implement collaborative management?
Going from a traditional model to collaborative management can mean a big change. Some companies do not feel, or even are not, prepared to fully adopt this type of methodology.
If this is the case with your organization, our advice is: try to start small! Collaborative management can be used for specific projects that are of great impact to the company, or only in some departments. These experiments can be used as a pilot as they help to verify the possibility of adopting this model in a broad and fixed way.
For this, some points are extremely important when considering the idea of implementing this methodology in your management. Here are some steps that we think are important for every leader to know before making any decisions:
1- Purpose and objective must match
Do you know strategic planning? By then, all the resources of the company must be aware of the path to follow, what its goals and objectives are. Thinking about it in a simpler way, let us think now about the teams that exist in the company.
Each of the sectors must work to comply with strategic planning. And in collaborative management, this is even more necessary, since one of its main pillars is that everyone is involved in the purposes of the company, equally.
This is exactly the reason why, if you plan to transform the method with which you conduct your business towards a more collaborative way, it is important that each member of each team knows the objectives and purposes of the projects, the area, and the company, and can conceive it as a whole.
2- Reliability
Collaborative management does not happen without the pillar of reliability. If we talk about collaboration, it is impossible to have a cooperative environment without a high level of trust between the employees themselves, as well as from them towards the company.
So, how is the trust between the collaborators of your company? If this issue has not been worked on, we advise you to be transparent and to encourage clear, simple, objective, and direct communication.
3- Define the tasks of each member
There is a myth in collaborative management that all people are “equal.” This idea cannot be interpreted strictly, as each operator has their own set of skills, personality, strengths, and limitations.
Therefore, it is important to designate who does what. Everyone will have a similar weight in decision-making, but each one will have their well-defined tasks. This does not mean that there is no room for change, or that a professional will challenge himself in different fields of knowledge. But the definition of roles is important so that no task is left without a responsible person.
In addition to establishing these roles, each team member needs to have a clear understanding of what colleagues are doing. This makes it easy to know who to turn to if you have questions, or even make suggestions.
4- Open and efficient communication
We already mentioned here the importance of the role of communication, right? Lack of communication can undermine the success of each team and, consequently, of the company. To improve this, one of the suggestions is to always try to understand every angle of a situation. This will facilitate the clarification of doubts in several directions.
How to involve employees in collaborative management?
Every manager’s dream is to have employees who truly “put on the company shirt.” Collaborative management can be a way to promote this identification with the workplace and with employee engagement..
But for this, it is essential to pay attention to an important detail: autonomy must be real! For employees to really get involved, take ownership of projects, and be proactive, they need to feel like they really have decision-making power.
Opinions must be heard and respected, even if they are later discarded, they will make a big difference. Therefore, collaborative management cannot be a facade just to give the impression that employees are involved in the decision-making process, it must be a reality within the company.
Conclusion
Knowing what collaborative management is, you might be curious to try this methodology in your company. One last tip, but also very important, is to adopt good KPIs to measure and see the results this model brings to your organization when in practice.
Some companies adopt a more traditional management model with some aspects of collaborative management, such as project management. If your company is considering adopting the Collaborative Management methodology, look at all the characteristics of a collaborative environment, like the ones we mentioned in this article, and see how to apply them to your business model.
One thing is for sure: collaborative management is people-centric, so it is a great way to promote talent retention. Take a moment to analyze how your staff is doing, what the turnover rate is, and how satisfied employees are. Depending on the feedback, it may be a good time to think of a different way to run your business.
