Collaboration drives Innovation and Transformation.

It seems today that nearly every organisation is undertaking some project to transform their business using digital technology, and if you want to transform, getting people working together is critical.

Collaboration is amongst the top 3 most critical factors for innovation success – and in this day and age, if you’re not innovating, you’re not competing. To survive and thrive, businesses must now develop and deploy innovative ideas at speed, and this can only be achieved if everyone is rowing in the same direction.

This is essential for solving internal business problems, and identifying the most promising opportunities emerging in the market. Each team and individual in your organisation brings a different and extremely valuable perspective to a problem. Yet so many organisations are struggling to go beyond their core decision makers to generate new ideas.

According to a recent innovation study, collaboration is currently ranked higher in importance than having strong leadership. So why is it that 74% of professionals do not believe their organisation is collaborating effectively at all?

One key reason is that employees are now adapting and learning faster in their personal lives than they are at work. They increasingly expect their employee experience to match their customer experience – and the best organisations create an internal culture which engenders innovation and adaptability is no longer a want, but a necessity.

“No matter where you are starting from, collaboration is king” – a great snippet from a recent Forrester report I read which discusses how to get started when your business needs to change the way it creates value for the customer. 

“In a world where your customers are digital, your channels are digital, and your competitors are digital, your products, insights, employees and operations all need to be digital too”. 

It’s a daunting task and puts your existing revenue streams at risk – because of this, many companies start small, focusing on reshaping one business unit or product line, which in turn helps with innovation and digital agility. However, even the smallest change requires teams to collaborate. 

So how can you improve collaboration amongst your people? For starters, remove conflict by providing your teams with analytical tools so people can access all the information they need – and most importantly, invest in the right technologies. 

Is your organisation encouraging collaboration? Keen to hear your thoughts