Why bouncing ideas off your peers could be your workplace secret power
Teamwork- you tend to either love or loathe it. You may be a dynamo poised to chat your way to cunning solutions, or you may have bad memories of ‘collaborative’ projects from school that just ended in bickering. The truth is, the power of ‘we’ is pretty strong in the workplace when it comes to creative problem solving, generating new ideas, or even just giving you a fresh look at life. Here’s FutureSpace’s look at how to harness that power for your own work, whether you’re a solopreneur using our classy shared spaces to stay in the thick of things, or a worker with an established team to lean on.
Collaboration, not competition
A bit of competition can be healthy in a workspace, but it’s important not to let your competitive spirit overwhelm you. When you work smoothly with others, you enhance your own experience, and valuable brainstorming can come from it too. After all, two brains are better than one! Teamwork helps you focus on common goals, and collaboration can help you break through self-imposed barriers caused by your own limitations or even ‘inability to see the wood for the trees’.
Life is set up for ‘teams’
Humanity has always relied on each other to get through life. In fact, until recently, being the ‘lone wolf’ was a guarantee to find yourself in sticky waters! The same can be applied to your working environment. Allowing others to share in your creative process broadens the experience you have access to. You can benefit from different niches of experience, and different skill sets, not to mention different perspectives on sticky issues. Having each other’s back- and sharing ideas- is a great way to a smoother working process. It doesn’t matter if you’re a cohesive team working towards an identical goal, or a band of solopreneurs sharing a space, being able to tap into ‘shared wisdom’ is a great way to get barriers to fall.
Better results are almost guaranteed
Solo vision can be a powerful driving force, but it has one fault built in- if you miss the problem (or the solution), there’s no way to fix it until your client is standing in front of you, pointing it out. No checks and balances exist to help make sure you’ve solved all the issues, thought of all contingencies, and covered all the goals. If you forget something, it’s forgotten. If you misunderstand something, there’s no way to fix it until it’s part of your deliverable. Bouncing your ideas around a room, however, can net you valuable perspective from people who work (and think) differently to you… and expose and flaws, errors or miscommunications at hand.
Boosted communication is a business win
Good communicators go places, but we all have different styles. If you’re very used to working independently, or are simply shy, you may find you have difficulty expressing the wonders of your product even though you are an expert in your field. A little collaborative groupthink, even if you ultimately discard other perspectives, is a great (and gentle) way to smooth out your own inner thoughts. You’ll find yourself better able to express your needs for the project, purposes and goals. You’ll be able to communicate without getting flustered or defensive. And you will be able to explain your work in a way that makes sense to someone not intimately involved with its creation. Having these talents- and this smoothed-out ‘pitch’ – ready for your end client can be invaluable in presenting you as a slick, skilled talent they want to work with.
Collaboration and a little teamwork can be invaluable in any project. That’s why we at FutureSpace believe the shared working space model can be key to the growth and development of any company. Keen to snag your own space? Why not let our team help you find the perfect working space for your needs, today?
