4 Simple Ways To Encourage Collaboration Between Departments

A business is like an engine; you’ve got a lot of separate parts that all perform their own tasks, but it only works when you bring all of those parts together as a whole. You should consider the different departments in your business in the same way. It’s fine if everybody is doing their job but if you really want your company to succeed, you have to encourage those departments to work together as a whole. This is something a lot of businesses don’t do effectively and if you think that you might be one of them, you need to use some of these methods for encouraging collaboration between departments.

Regular Meetings

You can’t expect your departments to work together if they aren’t up to speed with what everybody is working on. A head of departments meeting is the easiest way to do this. Ask each department head to prepare a short presentation on the projects that they’re working on and any issues that they’re currently having. This gives the meeting a focus and gives the other departments an opportunity to suggest ways that they might help with those projects and combine them with their own work. Have a meeting once or twice a month at least, more if possible, and you’ll find that you see an increase in collaboration almost immediately.

Make Use Of Technology

New technology offers so many great business solutions, particularly when it comes to cross collaboration. There are some great pieces of software like Microsoft Dynamics NAV which can help you to integrate your sales, purchasing, inventory and accounting operations. By combining those separate departments, you can make sure that they’re all working toward a collective goal, rather than pulling against one another in different directions. Another great piece of technology you should take advantage of is instant messaging services. Giving your employees the ability to easily contact anybody else in the company makes it so much easier to work together on projects.

Get Rid Of Jargon

The business world is filled with jargon and management speak and each department tends to have their own way of describing certain things. This puts up a barrier between departments because it often means they don’t fully understand one another. If you can create a common language that all departments use with acronyms and terms that are used across the board, you can eliminate any confusion and make sure that everybody is always on the same page. When you bring in new employees, give them a quick rundown of words and phrases that they might hear in communications around the office so they’re up to speed as soon as they start.

Create Space For Collaboration

Having the physical space for people to collaborate is one of the most important things. If people from different departments are trying to work on a project together and they all have to cram into their usual office space, they won’t be that productive. Create specific group work rooms where people can have meetings and work on projects and you’ll find that people are far more inclined to collaborate.

Getting your departments to work together toward a common aim is the only way to really see your business grow so make sure that you’re doing everything you can to encourage it.