As the business world changes and new companies enter the market, successful ones must be quick and adaptable to stay ahead. To achieve this, leaders are shifting from old-fashioned, top-down structures to flexible team-based models that promote collaboration and empowerment. This makes collaborative leadership training essential, teaching managers and employees to work together effectively.
As per the Harvard Business Review, leaders who foster a collaborative approach regularly strive to solicit diverse perspectives and ideas from their team members. Such leaders leverage this collective wisdom to formulate effective strategies and resolve complex problems. Leadership training programs teach the skills required to form cohesive teams.
Here are some strategies that can be used to achieve success through collaboration:
- Developing a shared vision and mission
- Building trust and open communication
- Setting clear expectations and goals
- Encouraging diversity and inclusivity
- Fostering a culture of teamwork
The following section will explain what skills leaders needin order to help their teams work well together and succeed through collaboration.
Developing Strong Leaders: Individual and Collaborative Leadership Training Solutions
Working together as a team means leaders must practice being good at working independently as well as with others. Therefore, collaborative leadership training solutions should focus on individual and collaborative skills.
Individual Skills
- Self-Empowerment for Personal Growth: Self-empowerment means that you have control over yourself, even if someone else is in charge. The old way of empowerment was about leaders giving power to others. But now, it’s all about individuals giving power to themselves. This means cultivating one’s attitudes, beliefs, words, tone, body language, and, most importantly, actions. A positive attitude can help leaders see opportunities, even in tough situations. Leadership self-empowerment means managing yourself and making choices that help the whole team and organization.
- Flexibility and Agility for Stability and Focus: The world is changing quickly, and leaders can’t rely on old methods to solve new problems. They must develop fresh ideas and make fast decisions when the situation changes. To do this, they must practice being flexible and adapting to new situations. Learning and development (L&D) professionals can help by creating training programs that teach leaders to handle difficult situations and adapt.
Our leadership training program on Leading through Uncertain Times helps leaders learn to make smarter decisions despite extreme ambiguity, including topics such as innovating through design thinking, leading in a volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) environment, resilience to navigate change, and stress management for leaders.
- Partnerships for Building Capacity: Modern leaders must be good at building relationships between equals, where both parties benefit. In the past, business relationships were often one-sided, with one person or group having more power. But now, it’s better to work as partners or peers, where everyone has an equal say and works towards a common goal. Doing this ensures fewer conflicts, and everyone works together to find the best solution.
- Communication for Improving Team Engagement: It’s no surprise that effective communication is crucial, especially for leaders, as it’s considered an essential skill. Forbes reports that more than 40% of employees lose trust in their leaders and colleagues due to inadequate communication. The impact is even more pronounced for remote employees, with 54% experiencing a decline in trust in their leaders and 52% in their teams due to poor communication. Leaders should be good at sharing information with people they work with, whether in person or online. Talking openly and honestly is important for building trust, resolving conflicts and working well together. Good communication is also essential for holding people accountable for their job. When starting a project, it’s important to talk about expectations. Furthermore, keeping in touch during work progress helps fix problems early on and keeps every team member on the same page.
Collaborative Skills
- Team Building for Better Collaboration: A leader’s first job is to create a strong team. Getting good individuals doesn’t always mean they’ll work well together. The leader must establish a positive environment for all team members when initiating the team. Team members may have concerns about their level of participation, their enjoyment of their work, and their ability to get along with their colleagues. A leader must demonstrate in the first few meetings that they are committed to addressing these concerns. After that, the leader needs to keep the team working well together and build trust through their actions as well as by being honest and keeping promises.
Our leadership training program on Team Building and Optimization includes value-driven competencies to build high-performing teams, including building an accountable culture, cracking the engagement code and intentional delegation. - Visionary Guidance to Align Teams for Single Purpose: Cross-functional projects sometimes fail because each team focuses too much on its tasks. Team leaders can help by encouraging collaboration between teams. This means working together to create a shared goal, which helps everyone understand how their work fits into the bigger picture. By doing this, teams can create a plan that works seamlessly to reach their goals.
- Accountability for Better Performance Optimization: Shared accountability prioritizes the team’s success over individual achievements. It’s not a particular skill as much as it is a mindset or way of approaching things. Co-creation is a process that shows how each team member’s work affects the others and helps everyone agree on goals. The team’s success is the collective responsibility of all members, and the leader’s role is to ensure that everyone performs their jobs effectively. Everyone needs to work together for the team to succeed, and this approach helps keep everyone focused on the same goal.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) for Positive Organizational Culture: Diversity and inclusion are crucial to building high-performing teams. Leaders who recognize and adopt diversity have the potential to utilize the unique abilities and talents of every team member to achieve shared objectives. Diversity and inclusion training can help leaders recognize and address unconscious biases, create a safe and inclusive work environment, and build a culture of belonging.
We offer training courses for leaders who want to create a more equitable workplace. These courses include topics such as creating a culture of trust, leading inclusively, leading across different cultures and generations, and identifying and addressing workplace biases.
Conclusion
Successful businesses today are shifting towards flexible team-based structures that promote collaboration and empowerment, making collaborative leadership training essential for managers and employees. To develop high-performing teams, leaders must possess individual and collaborative skills, such as self-empowerment, flexibility, partnerships, communication, team building, visionary guidance, accountability, diversity, equity, and inclusion. By developing these competencies, leaders can cultivate high-performing teams that drive the success of their organizations.
