Contributed post
For a lot of people, the idea of running their own business involves being in charge. It’s hardly a mystery as to why this is quite so tempting for a lot of people. After all, many people leave their jobs and strike out on their own because they’re sick of answering to other people and want to be able to call the shots. Now, this is all well and good but if you go into running a business assuming that you’re going to be at the top and everyone else just has to do what you say when you’re in for a pretty rude awakening. The reality of the modern business world is that its one that’s almost entirely built around collaboration. If you’re not able to work with people, rather than above them, then your business simply isn’t going to be able to succeed. With that in mind, here are just some of the ways that you can make your business into a more collaborative environment.
Sharing resources
If you want a collaborative atmosphere in your business, then everyone needs to have the right resources to fully understand how best to keep the business running smoothly. One of the best ways to do this is through some kind of content collaboration tool. The wonderful thing about the internet is that there is more freely available information on creating a successful business than ever before. Having ways that you can curate content allows you to easily share articles and resources that can help everyone in your business improve and better understand what they should be doing on a day to day basis. Not only does this allow you to provide your employees with information, but it also allows them to do the same for each other and you as well.
Exchanging ideas freely
If people in your business don’t feel as though they can communicate, then your business is never going to succeed. You need to make sure that you create an environment in which everyone feels completely comfortable sharing opinions and ideas that they have for the business. If you make your employees feel as though their ideas are less valid than yours, then you’re almost certainly going to end up making them feel frustrated as well as causing your business to suffer as a whole. Sure, you might be at the top as the business owner, but that just means that your employees have a perspective on the business that you might not. It’s always worth listening to your employees and getting a sense of exactly what their visions for the business are. Make sure that everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas and voicing any concerns that they might have. One of the best ways to do this is by having some kind of suggestion box so that people can offer up ideas that they might have. Sure, it’s pretty basic, but it can often be a good first step in helping people feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts on what’s best for the business as a whole.
Building a cohesive team
Of course, if you want people to collaborate then you need to make sure that they can actually work together. One of the biggest mistakes that many new business owners make is to assume that your employees are just a group of individuals. Sure, it’s important that you recognise and play to the strengths of each individual employees, but if they can’t come together as a cohesive team that knows how to work together, then your business is going to suffer for it. One of the best ways to deal with this is to set up things like team building exercises and retreats. The kinds of situations where everyone is outside of work, doing something fun and interesting but that encourages as much teamwork as possible. Not only is this going to improve their ability to communicate, but it’s also going to bring them closer together as people. If your employees feel genuinely connected to one another on a personal level, they’re going to find it that much easier to communicate effectively and work together to achieve their goals.
Embracing outsourcing
It’s important to remember that it’s not just collaboration within your business that can be valuable. Outsourcing is one of the most important and useful things that you can do in order to improve your business. The reality is that there are plenty of things that involve specialised skills that you and your employees might not have, or that you don’t have the time to provide training in. This means that you may need to hand things over to an outside organisation. Just look at Apple to see how useful this can be. They outsource pretty much all of their manufacturing to other companies, and it’s one of the things that’s allowed them to become the tech juggernaut that they are today. Make sure that you create connections without everyone from accountants to marketing experts to IT managers. These kinds of things are invaluable to your business and you simply may not be in a position to handle them yourself. It can be tough to hand over pieces of your business to outside companies, but it really is one of the best and most effective ways to improve any business. That way you and your employees can focus on the places where your skills and abilities are best put to use.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should give up all of your authority as a business owner. After all, this is your business, and you are the one who has final say in terms of the direction that it moves in. However, assuming that you always know best and that there’s nothing whatsoever that you could possibly learn from the people around you is both misguided and potentially pretty dangerous for your business as a whole. Other people are going to have different perspectives that are always worth considering. Even if you decide to stick to your guns, knowing all of the possible options that are available to you is never a bad thing.