How to Improve Teamwork and Collaboration

6 ways to improve teamwork in your workplace

Strong teamwork doesn’t happen on its own — it takes intention. Here are six ways to help your team communicate better, support one another and work more effectively together.

1. Create a safe and trusting environment.

Teams tend to work better when people feel comfortable speaking up. That’s where the concept of “psychological safety” comes in. It gives employees the confidence to share ideas, ask questions and raise concerns without feeling like they’ll be judged or shut down. In fact, Google’s Project Aristotle research found that psychological safety was the most important factor in team effectiveness, even more than individual talent or team composition.

One of the simplest ways to build that trust is by creating space for regular feedback. Ask everyone on the team to share something, whether it’s an idea, a concern or a suggestion, and make sure you’re listening. When employees see their input is taken seriously, trust tends to build over time.

2. Schedule time for team collaboration.

Understanding how to improve teamwork and collaboration starts with making time and space for it. This matters more than you might think: Research from McKinsey shows that team behaviors like trust and communication account for up to 76 percent of the difference between low- and high-performing teams.

But healthy workplace collaboration doesn’t just happen; you have to build it into the workday. To get started, encourage teamwork by setting aside dedicated time for employees to connect and problem-solve together. That could mean weekly brainstorming sessions, cross-functional check-ins or informal Q&A blocks where people can ask questions and share ideas.

Most effective problem-solvers don’t arrive at answers immediately or in isolation. They test ideas, ask questions and refine their thinking with input from others. Creating space for that kind of interaction helps collaboration feel like part of the job, not an extra task on top of it.

3. Form diverse, cross-functional teams.

Research consistently shows that diverse teams outperform their peers, as different perspectives lead to stronger ideas and better problem-solving. In fact, McKinsey’s Diversity Matters Even More report found that companies with more diverse leadership teams are 39 percent more likely to outperform their peers. This serves as a reminder that bringing different viewpoints into the room can directly impact results.

With each new opportunity for collaboration, consider how you can mix up team members to bring in fresh perspectives. Look beyond roles and think about differences in background, experience, age and working styles. When people step outside their usual circles, they’re more likely to question assumptions and approach problems in new ways.

4. Use technology to enhance communication.

Collaboration technology has reshaped how teams work together. Even when your team is distributed, the right tools can make it feel like everyone is working side by side.

That investment can pay off. According to Forrester, organizations that invest in mature digital employee experience (DEX) programs — including collaboration tools and processes — are 33 percent more likely to report higher employee satisfaction and experience fewer productivity disruptions.

To support that kind of environment, choose internal communication apps and tools that make it easy for employees to stay connected and keep work moving, such as the following:

• Slack: Ideal for teams that rely on quick, real-time communication, with messaging, file sharing and integrations in one place.
• Microsoft 365: A comprehensive suite that connects email, document collaboration and video conferencing. Best suited for organizations already using Microsoft tools.
• Asana: A project management platform designed for tracking tasks, deadlines and workflows across teams.
• Trello: A simple, visual tool that uses boards and cards to organize projects, making it a good fit for smaller teams or straightforward workflows.

“Any tool or app that allows your team to easily communicate with one another, keep track of project status and share files with each other is going to help foster a teamwork environment,” said Kyle MacDonald, VP of marketing and business development at Mojio.

5. Define roles clearly and celebrate individual contributions.

Clearly defined roles help employees feel valued and more comfortable contributing to the team.

“While it might not seem connected, your team will function much better as an actual team if each member knows what their individual role in the team is,” MacDonald shared. “This way, each team member can fulfill their duties and then help out other team members that might need it.”

When roles are clear, work tends to move more efficiently. “Your productivity and performance stats will increase by being clear on each individual’s roles and responsibilities,” MacDonald added.

6. Set and track shared goals.

Setting and tracking business goals as a group fosters a sense of teamwork and shared accountability. “If employees are all working toward the same thing as one, they are much more likely to help each other out, communicate and work together to reach the goal, especially if it benefits everyone as a whole or there is a shared reward,” explained Joanna Zambas, content and social media manager and career expert at CareerAddict.

Individual goals can still play a role, but on their own they don’t do much to build teamwork. For example, if you’re building a sales team and create a contest for the top salesperson, people may push to hit their targets, but not necessarily help each other along the way. Zambas noted that this type of goal can create gaps within the team.

Real-world companies that improved teamwork and collaboration

Here are three examples of organizations that successfully strengthened collaboration and saw measurable results:

Google’s Project Aristotle

Google’s well-known internal research initiative studied 180 teams across the organization to understand why some consistently outperformed others. The findings pointed to psychological safety — the shared belief that team members can speak up, take risks and make mistakes without fear of embarrassment or punishment — as the most important factor in team effectiveness.

In response, Google emphasized team norms like open communication, equal participation and manager support. Teams that adopted these practices worked together more smoothly and got better results.

Microsoft’s cultural transformation

Under CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft shifted away from a highly competitive internal culture toward one rooted in collaboration and continuous learning. The company moved on from its stack-ranking performance system, introduced more cross-functional ways of working and emphasized what Nadella called a growth mindset.

In the years that followed, Microsoft reported higher employee engagement and renewed momentum in areas like product development and cloud innovation. Teams were encouraged to share ideas across departments, helping break down internal silos and improve collaboration.

Patagonia’s collaborative culture

Outdoor apparel company Patagonia has long emphasized cross-departmental collaboration as part of how it operates. By organizing around shared environmental and business goals, the company brings together design, marketing and sustainability teams early in the product development process.

This approach helps Patagonia move projects forward while keeping its mission-driven priorities front and center. It’s a useful model for business owners looking to better align teamwork with company values.

The benefits of effective teamwork

Companies that get collaboration right tend to see real returns, including the following:

• Better decision-making: Research from Cloverpop on inclusive decision-making found that collaborative teams make better business decisions than individuals about 66 percent of the time — and diverse teams make better decisions up to 87 percent of the time.
• More motivation and engagement: There’s also a clear link between collaboration and how people approach their work day to day. Research from Stanford University found that people who felt they were working “with others” persisted up to 48 percent longer on challenging tasks and reported higher motivation and engagement. 
• Better overall performance: Collaboration shows up consistently in high-performing organizations. According to the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), high-performance organizations are 5.5 times more likely to promote collaborative teamwork than lower-performing ones.
• More creativity and innovation: When people are working closely together, ideas don’t just sit with one person. Instead, they get shaped, challenged and built on. James Coan, a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, describes this as “load sharing,” where the pressure isn’t all on one person, which can open the door to more creative thinking.
• Better problem-solving: Research from the American Psychological Association found that teams of three to five people perform best on complex problems, consistently outperforming individuals and pairs.
• Higher retention and job satisfaction: The Institute for Collaborative Working identifies employee satisfaction as a key benefit of collaborative environments. Organizations that prioritize communication and teamwork also tend to see stronger retention over time, helping reduce turnover.

Common teamwork pitfalls and how to avoid them

Understanding what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does. Here are some of the most common mistakes organizations make when trying to improve teamwork:

1. Focusing on team-building activities instead of underlying issues: Team-building exercises can help, but they won’t fix deeper problems. Start by addressing unclear communication, competing priorities or resource gaps. Otherwise, those issues will keep getting in the way.
2. Creating teams that are too large: Research consistently shows the most effective teams are relatively small, often in the three- to five-person range for complex problem-solving. As teams grow, coordination and decision-making can become more challenging, even if you gain additional perspectives.
3. Rewarding only individual performance: Many organizations emphasize teamwork, but still focus on individual performance when it comes to recognition and rewards. If collaboration truly matters, your incentives should reflect it. 
4. Ignoring remote and hybrid team dynamics: Remote and hybrid work isn’t going away, but collaboration doesn’t happen automatically in distributed teams. Set clear communication norms, make time for regular check-ins and ensure employees are comfortable using your collaboration tools.
5. Overlooking psychological safety: If people don’t feel comfortable speaking up, collaboration stalls. Leaders set the tone here — when they admit mistakes, ask for input and respond thoughtfully, it signals that it’s safe for others to do the same.

Measuring teamwork success: Key performance indicators

If you’re putting time and effort into improving teamwork, it helps to know whether it’s actually making a difference. The right key performance indicators (KPIs) can give you a clearer picture of how your team is working together and where things may still need attention.

Here are a few metrics to keep an eye on:

Collaboration-specific KPIs

• Cross-functional project completion rates
• Average time to resolve team-based problems
• Number of ideas generated in collaborative sessions
• Employee satisfaction scores related to teamwork
• Knowledge sharing frequency and quality

Business impact metrics

• Customer satisfaction scores
• Revenue per employee
• Employee retention rates
• Time-to-market for new initiatives

Strong teamwork can shape your workplace

Strong teamwork creates a more productive, supportive work environment where employees’ problem-solving skills, curiosity, empathy and strengths complement one another.

When collaboration is working well, you tend to see it in both day-to-day operations and long-term results. Teams communicate more easily, solve problems faster and stay more engaged in their work. The strategies outlined in this guide — from building trust to choosing the right tools — can help you create a workplace where collaboration feels natural and actually supports how your team gets work done.

Sean Peek and Kerry Goyette contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.