Despite the fact that most workplaces claim collaboration at work is important and many include it as part of their core values, the lack of collaboration is a continuous struggle in the workplace: silos between marketing and sales, lack of customer centricity from support functions or simply blaming (the lack of) collaboration as the top reason for workplace failures. Part of the problem comes from the definition of a work culture that aims to be simultaneously competitive and collaborative. Often, the struggle comes from the challenge to find the right way to teach collaboration in organizations.

Why Is Collaboration a Challenge in the Workplace?

There can be many factors that contribute to difficulty in collaborating at work. Some common reasons include:

• A lack of clear communication or misunderstandings about roles and responsibilities can make it difficult for team members to work effectively together.
• Personal conflicts or personality clashes between team members can make it challenging to collaborate.
• Different work styles or approaches to problem-solving can also create difficulties in collaboration.
• A lack of trust between team members can make it difficult to collaborate and work effectively together.

But there is more to it — one of the biggest contributing factors is that if you perceive your peers as competitors, your brain will not be at ease with collaborative behavior, as it might threaten the biggest rewards of individual success.

The Dilemma of Competitive Versus Collaborative Cultures

Competition at work can be a complex phenomenon, and there is still much that researchers do not fully agree on about the underlying neural mechanisms. However, some studies have suggested that competition at work may be related to certain brain regions and functions.

One study found that the brain’s reward system, which is involved in motivation and pleasure, is activated in response to competition. The study found that when people competed for rewards, their brains released the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is associated with feelings of pleasure and reward.

The amygdala, a brain region involved in processing emotions, is also a factor in collaborative dynamics. The amygdala has been found to play a role in the fight or flight response, which may be relevant in perceived competitive situations where there is a need to respond quickly and effectively.

Overall, the neuroscience of competition at work is an active area of research, but work environments with cut-throat competition do not encourage collaboration. The advances in neuroscience have identified a biological reason for this.

Fostering Human Connection

Oxytocin is a hormone that is released in the brain and is involved in social bonding and feelings of trust — which is an essential factor to enhance a culture of collaboration. Here are some strategies that may help generate those feelings at work:

• Show appreciation: Expressing appreciation and gratitude towards coworkers can help build trust.
• Show vulnerability: Sharing personal stories and being open about your own weaknesses can help create a sense of connection and trust with coworkers.
• Encourage unity: Collaborating with coworkers and supporting one another can help foster a sense of belonging.
• Promote positive social interactions: Encouraging positive social interactions such as friendly and joyful conversations and team building activities can strengthen social bonds.
• Practice acts of kindness: Performing acts of kindness, such as helping a coworker with a task or offering support, can build trust.

By fostering positive social interactions and building strong relationships with coworkers, it may be possible to indirectly influence the release of oxytocin and create a sense of belonging at work.

How To Teach Employees Collaborative Behaviors

Overall, developing collaborative behaviors at work requires being open, authentic and supportive in your interactions with others. These are skills that are not teachable without practice — as it involves metacognitive skills.

Metacognition is the process of thinking about one’s own thinking. It involves being aware of and monitoring one’s own cognitive processes, such as attention, memory and problem-solving. It also includes being able to plan, monitor and evaluate one’s own learning. This is important because it allows individuals to become more aware of their own thought processes and to make adjustments to improve their understanding and performance. It can also help people to be more efficient learners and to be more successful in achieving their goals.

According to the Fogg Behavior Model, behavior is the result of three factors: motivation, ability and a prompt, or trigger. In order for a behavior to occur, all three of these factors must be present.

Motivation refers to the desire or drive to perform a behavior. Ability refers to the skills and efforts necessary to perform the behavior. A prompt is a stimulus that initiates the behavior.

The Fogg Behavior Model suggests that to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring, one or more of these factors can be modified. For example, if the motivation to perform a behavior is low, it can be increased by offering incentives or rewards. If the ability to perform a behavior is low, it can be increased by modifying the effort to make the new behavior. Prompts can be used to initiate a behavior by reminding people to perform the new behavior.

In practice this means that learning and development (L&D) and people managers should:

• Help employees to convert a piece of knowledge into a short micro-action that takes less than five minutes, for example: asking a colleague how the family is doing or was there anything that you struggled with at work today or simply recognizing in public when a person does an action that contributes to the unity of the team.
• Encourage (daily) repetition of the “collaborative” micro-action so that it becomes an instinctive reflex.
• Do regular check-ins to know if employees feel that these micro-actions are contributing to their collaboration goals or if they need to design new ones.

The use of behavioral science as a tool to redesign behaviors, such as the ones related to collaboration, is essential to employees to really create routines that reinforce practice of new skills until it becomes a natural reflex. Most organizations today use traditional approaches to learn skills, but creating awareness or acquiring knowledge is not the most appropriate way for the brain to adopt change. Collaboration is more about taking action and accountability for behaviors that can be replicated at scale through the use of behavioral science.