Different Personalities, One Goal: Excellence in Collaboration

Baltas Group

Today, collaboration has become more important, especially with the widespread use of telecommuting. In this process where teams cannot physically come together, developing effective communication and collaboration strategies has become a vital necessity.

Collaboration is realized by a team of at least two or more people serving a common purpose. Collaboration can lead to increased productivity, stronger employee relations, employee engagement and employee retention. As CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella is a leader who frequently emphasizes collaboration. In changing the company's culture, Nadella emphasized the importance of collaboration and teamwork. “Working together is the key to innovation and success,” he says, emphasizing that collaboration is not just a tool, but a fundamental element for a company to grow and thrive.

The Importance of Cooperation in Business Life

In today's rapidly changing technological landscape, teams need to constantly share information and work towards common goals in order for companies to remain innovative. In this context, lack of collaboration can lead to delayed projects, wasted resources and ultimately customer dissatisfaction.

In business life, cooperation is extremely important for the completion of work, projects, tasks and tasks, as well as for the formation of a healthy work environment both for oneself and interpersonally. People who work in cooperation have a higher sense of friendship, ownership and belonging than those who work alone. Creating an effective culture of collaboration increases the competitiveness of organizations and increases employee loyalty. For example, a Gallup study shows that collaboration and teamwork increase employee engagement by 17%, which in turn increases productivity by 20-25%. It has also been observed that error rates in collaborative projects are reduced by 30-50%. Building open communication and trust between teams is key to both individual and organizational success. As a result, collaboration is an essential element for success in today's business world.

Cooperation and Synergy

Bringing together individuals with diverse skills and different perspectives makes it easier to solve complex problems and generate creative solutions. At the same time, it creates synergy and the opportunity to develop tolerance and understanding, which has a positive impact on employees' respect for each other. The real productivity comes from collaboration with people with different views and skills. If individuals are able to experience and manage differences, then they will have a truly collaborative process.

Google has developed a work culture that encourages employees to collaborate. In particular, the “20% Time” practice allows employees to use 20% of their work time to develop projects based on their own interests. This method paves the way for people from different disciplines to come together and come up with innovative ideas. For example, popular products such as Gmail and Google News were born in such collaborative environments. This approach has increased employees' sense of belonging, strengthened relationships within the team and increased overall employee satisfaction. As a result, Google has become a workplace that fosters employee engagement and satisfaction, which has had a positive impact on the company's innovation and performance.

IBM, another leading company in technology and consulting, has developed many programs that encourage employees from different disciplines to come together. In particular, IBM's “Design Thinking” approach aims at interdisciplinary collaboration in product and service development processes. In this process, engineers, designers, marketing experts and individuals from other disciplines come together to create customer-oriented solutions. This diversity supports innovative thinking and enables more effective solutions to complex problems. By enabling its employees to experience their diversity and realize productive collaboration processes, IBM has both increased innovation and stood out in the market competition. This is a good example of how collaboration can be achieved not only with individuals in the same position but also with different areas of expertise. However, certain personality traits that facilitate collaboration are also at the forefront of collaboration success.

Personality Traits that Play a Role in the Success of Collaboration

Our personality traits shape the way we collaborate in business and everyday life. Grand theories of personality provide an important framework for understanding the dynamics of individuals' collaboration. In the Personova Personality Inventory we developed as Baltaş Group, we measure compatibility with collaboration under certain dimensions. We see our three main dimensions as closely related to collaboration:

1. Agreeability: In teams with high agreeableness, team cohesion is enhanced, team members understand each other well, and communication is easy in a friendly atmosphere. However, when it comes to the requirements of the job, the development of new ideas may be hindered because team members may prefer to leave things as they are, avoiding disrupting the status quo. There may be very little dissent and “Group Thinking” may occur. Even if there is a mistake in the workflow, people may avoid conflict by not offering a counter idea to change it. This can lead the team to an erroneous conclusion. In the case of low consensus, feedback is clearer and this allows for a more agile working environment. Team members give clear feedback on mistakes and are direct and to the point, making it clear what they want to communicate without beating around the bush. However, in a team with very low consensus, conflicts can be high, team members may feel that they are not being understood, and each may insist on his or her own opinion.
2. Introversion-Extroversion: Extroverts encourage the exchange of ideas as they are bold and open in communication. This creates an energetic atmosphere within the team, enabling quick solutions to be developed. In addition, extroversion strengthens team spirit by increasing social interactions. However, very extroverted teams may take a break from their work from time to time in order to interact socially. If extroverts' need for socialization is not met, they may feel uncomfortable and this may negatively affect office satisfaction. Too many extroverts in the same group may suppress the views of introverts. Extreme extroverts may even drown out the voices of moderate extroverts. While a team of extroverts may be active in social interaction, they may find it difficult to listen to each other effectively. On the other hand, introverts are usually attentive listeners and this contributes to a deep understanding of different perspectives within the team. In this sense, introversion supports an environment for evaluating ideas and actions. In a team with high introversion, work orientation is also high. However, as introversion becomes dominant, the tendency to do things alone may increase and the need to build relationships may take a back seat. This can hamper communication. A good balance is at the heart of building strong and effective collaborations.
3. Emotional Cohesion: Teams with high emotional cohesion tend to successfully navigate stressful situations and crises by emphasizing their resilience. These teams create an environment of calmness and trust, reinforcing a sense of “we will get through this together”. Team members generally keep their emotional reactions under control and have the ability to resolve conflicts without escalating them. However, team members may have difficulty in recognizing problems early because they do not reflect problems internally. Team members often do not see themselves as the source of problems and may resist receiving feedback. Teams with low emotional cohesion are more aware of the effects of the problems they face. They have high levels of insight and are very open to receiving feedback. They constantly question themselves in their work with performance anxiety: “Why didn't I see this, why did someone else fix it?” and try to improve their own performance. However, teams with low emotional cohesion may find it difficult to control their emotional reactions in stressful situations, which can lead to team unrest or other problems.

How Should a Manager Manage Collaboration?

Activities or tasks that promote team spirit can provide support for collaboration. At the same time, based on the principle of psychological safety, creating an open and transparent communication environment will create a safe environment for employees to express their opinions freely. In this way, people who share the same or different ideas will feel that they can express themselves freely. This will bring employees together and create a bond. When a manager approaches the team, it strengthens the relationship with the team and the team's relationship with him/her. In this way, the team achieves harmony with the manager and the company.

Conclusion

The efficiency of effective cooperation, one of the most important requirements of today's business world, is shaped by the personality traits of both us and those in our team. As Baltaş Group, Personova Personality Inventory, which enables us to shed light on ourselves in order to realize our principle of people and change, is a lens that allows us to see the personality dimensions necessary for successful cooperation in the business world. To have more detailed information about the importance of cooperation and to gain an awareness that will shed light on your path, you can review the issue of our Source Magazine, https://kaynakbaltas.com/dergiler/ekip-calismasi/ bağlantısındaki Teamwork.