Research shows that collaboration is likely to be most successful where individuals have very clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This means that they can work independently on significant parts of their work. This fits well with the idea of collaboration as bringing together people with diverse skills for their individual contribution.

There are several skills that are essential or useful when collaborating with others.

Strong communication skills

It does not matter whether you are working remotely or face-to-face: communication skills are essential. You need to be able to listen effectively and get your own message across in speaking or writing. Without this, your collaboration will be ineffective.

Remote collaboration and communication

There are some very particular issues associated with remote collaboration, and especially communicating either in writing via shared platforms or in video-conferences.

For example:  it is much harder to see visual communication, such as facial expressions and body language via video conference (and impossible to do so in writing). You need to emphasise the non-visual elements, such as tone of voice and the words you choose.

Communication is harder work remotely, so it is much easier to switch off, especially in big groups. Try to make video conferences as short as possible to avoid fatigue.

Emotional intelligence is helpful in assessing people’s feelings, including your own

Working together, both in person and remotely, needs some degree of ability to understand and respond to both your own and other people’s feelings. People with good emotional intelligence tend to fit well into groups and find it easier to work with others.

They can also help group situations to run more smoothly. They are therefore vital to facilitate collaboration, especially if others in the group lack this skill.

Problem-solving and decision-making skills

It is fair to say that many collaborations are established to solve problems.

Decision-making is generally much harder in a group setting, such as a collaboration. It can therefore be helpful to have people with very good decision-making skills involved, because they can facilitate better group decisions.

Being able to resolve conflicts effectively is essential when working with others

It is almost inevitable that there will be some element of conflict in any interpersonal relationship. When there are more people involved in a collaboration, conflict is more likely to arise. It is also unfortunately true that with more experts and specialists involved, conflict also becomes more likely, because each has their own (fully justifiable) reasons for their opinions.