What are collaboration skills?

Collaboration skills enable you to work successfully toward a common goal with others. These skills include clear communication, active listening to others, taking responsibility for mistakes, and respecting the diversity of your colleagues.

What are collaboration skills?

Collaboration skills are what allow you to work well with others. Most work environments require collaboration, making these skills essential. These skills include understanding a range of perspectives, managing priorities from all group members, and meeting expectations as a trusted team member.

How do collaboration skills work?

The idea of collaboration seems simple enough, but in reality, collaborating with others can be challenging. Everyone on the team has strengths and weaknesses, communication preferences, and personal goals. The company culture also impacts collaboration. Some companies value collaboration and provide training on how to collaborate, while others assume that collaboration will happen naturally.

Using collaboration skills within a team may include:

• Maintaining open communication and not withholding necessary information to complete tasks
• Reaching consensus on goals and methods for completing projects or tasks
• Providing recognition for others’ contributions in your team and giving credit where it is due
• Identifying obstacles and addressing issues collaboratively as they arise
• Putting group goals above personal satisfaction and/or recognition, especially if you are the leader
• Apologizing for mistakes and forgiving others for theirs

Types of collaboration skills

For successful collaboration, you need communication skills, emotional intelligence, and respect for diversity. Here’s a closer look at each of these types of collaboration skills.

Communication skills

It’s challenging to convey your opinion. Within a team, you can’t be afraid to share your perspective, but you also can’t impose your viewpoint on everyone. These communication skills are vital for collaboration.

• Active listening: Active listening goes beyond hearing your colleagues’ words. It means listening without judgment and ensuring you understand the underlying meaning of what they are saying. If you don’t understand, ask for clarification, and take the time to summarize what has been said before moving on.
• Written communication: Much of collaboration happens in writing, especially if you work remotely. We rely on nonverbal cues to convey meaning, so it’s particularly important to be cautious about how messages are received when communicating in writing.
• Verbal communication: What you say in a team environment matters, but how you say it is equally important. Sharing your perspective concisely and respectfully and differing important in verbal communication.
• Nonverbal communication: Nonverbal communication, such as body language and tone, influences verbal communication. The same words delivered in two different ways can express different meanings to those listening. Consider both what you say and how you say it when working closely with colleagues.

Note: You may have heard that 93% of our communication is nonverbal, but this number has been debunked. Nonverbal communication is important in how you clarify what you say, but it is not more important than the words you use.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is one of the most important soft skills needed in the workplace. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage your emotions, recognize emotions in others, act appropriately, and apply your emotions to tasks.

When a team member is in a bad mood and lashes out at another, those with emotional intelligence can recognize that the tension might indicate the nervous member needs comfort or help. Even issues like perceived laziness or stubbornness are seen by those with emotional intelligence as symptoms of a larger problem that everyone can work together to solve.

Some

The traits that can be developed to increase your emotional intelligence include:

• Resilience
• Not taking things lightly
• Not taking criticism too seriously
• The ability to recognize strong emotions and distance yourself from them when needed
• Curiosity
• Empathy
• Compassion
• Conflict resolution

Respecting Diversity

In our global economy, you may work with colleagues from different countries and cultures. To succeed, it is essential to reflect on any implicit biases you may hold so that you can work respectfully with your peers.

You should also pay attention to behaviors or decisions that can be subtle forms of discrimination. For example, if a colleague from a minority group is continually talked over or ignored during meetings, you can make a deliberate effort to redirect the conversation back to that colleague’s ideas.

Respecting diversity in a collaborative environment includes:

• Open communication
• Sensitivity to ethnic and religious backgrounds
• Setting and managing expectations
• Facilitating group discussions
• Agreeing on roles that leverage individual strengths
• Building consensus
• Drawing out perspectives from all team members

Other Skills Employers Value

Here are examples of key skills that employers look for when assessing job applicants and employees they consider for promotions, along with recommendations for the best skills to include in your resume.

Collaboration skills enable you to work successfully towards a common goal with others. These skills include clear communication, active listening to others, taking responsibility for mistakes, and respecting the diversity of your colleagues.

Learn more about these skills and how to develop them.

Key Takeaways

Collaboration skills enable you to work towards a common goal with others. Most work environments require collaboration, so these skills are essential. Collaboration skills include communication, emotional intelligence, and respecting the diversity of your colleagues.

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Sources:

• IEDP. “12 Keys to Collaborative Organizational Culture.”
• Center for Creative Leadership. “Use Active Listening to Coach Others.”
• Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal. “Communication is 93% Nonverbal: An Urban Legend Proliferates,” Page 1.
• Inc. “High Emotional Intelligence Is Essential in Today’s Workplace.”

Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/collaboration-skills-with-examples-2059686