18 Unconventional Ways Startups Boost Team Collaboration

We learned early on that collaboration doesn’t get better by adding more meetings — it gets better by making interaction worth showing up for.

One day someone joked, “Amazon has pizza meetups — why are all our touchpoints feel like dental appointments?” That offhand comment sparked an experiment: Themed Active Sessions — short, high-energy gatherings designed to break patterns and actually connect people.

We started with FunkyFriday, a 20-minute slot where teammates showcase non-work passions — from ukulele jams to speed sketching. It sounds whimsical, but something magical happens when you see your engineer drop a perfect jazz riff or your PM explain medieval weaponry. Suddenly Slack isn’t just task lists — it’s real people rooting for each other.

Then came Roundhouse Kick Meetings — literally a minute of physical release (stretch, kick, dance) followed by two minutes to name a blocker and a solution. It’s silly, it’s active, and it gets the blood and ideas moving. We pair that with Pop-Up Floor Syncs — quick huddles on Slack or voice where someone literally says, “I need help now,” and two or three jump in immediately. No calendar invites. No slides.

The result? People show up because it’s human, fast, and energizing. Collaboration shifted from passive attendance to active contribution. We solve real stuff in 10-15 minutes that used to take hours of email threads and tentative scheduling.

Create rituals that feel good first and get work done second. When people want to participate because it’s joyful — not obligatory — collaboration becomes effortless.

One way we improved collaboration at our startup was by going async-first by default. We realized most collaboration issues didn’t come from people or tools. They came from constant interruptions. Status meetings, Slack messages, and quick check-ins were breaking focus and slowing decisions. So we changed the system.

Every project now lives in a shared, always-updated document. It serves as the single source of truth. When someone asks, “What’s the status?” we share the link instead of booking a meeting.

We also set clear response rules. For example, four hours to acknowledge and outline next steps. Not four hours to solve everything. This removed pressure for instant replies and protected deep work.

The impact was clear. We recovered roughly 15-20% of team capacity, shipped faster, and reduced rework caused by misalignment. The team felt calmer and more confident in making decisions on their own.

One tip for better teamwork:

Build systems where clarity is written once and reused by everyone.

I started treating silence as feedback.

Most teams focus on what people say in meetings. I started paying attention to what they don’t say. When someone goes quiet, disengages, or gives short answers, that’s data. So I created a practice: after key meetings or decisions, I’d reach out privately and ask, “What didn’t get said in that room?”

That one shift unlocked everything. People started sharing concerns they’d been sitting on, ideas they thought were too risky to voice, and honest feedback about what wasn’t working. Collaboration improved because team members felt genuinely heard, not just during structured check-ins, but in the in-between moments that matter most.

The impact? Faster problem-solving. Less resentment. More trust. When people know their hesitation won’t be ignored, they bring issues forward before they become crises.

One tip for better teamwork: Create psychological safety by going first. Share your own uncertainties. Admit when you don’t have answers. Model the vulnerability you want to see. Teams don’t collaborate well when they’re performing for each other; they collaborate when they feel safe enough to be real.

I introduced what I call “context-before-task communication.” Instead of assigning work in fragmented messages or quick directives, I began sharing a brief narrative snapshot of why we were doing something, where it fit into the larger strategy, and what emotional or brand outcome I was aiming for. It shifted everything. Suddenly, my team wasn’t just completing tasks — they were collaborating with a clear sense of intention, which led to higher-quality work, fewer revisions, and far more proactive problem-solving. For a creative-led company like mine, that clarity became a quiet superpower.

The impact was immediate: fewer misunderstandings, smoother execution, and a team that felt genuinely connected to the work rather than mechanically fulfilling assignments. It also allowed me to step out of micromanagement mode and trust the team to make decisions aligned with the bigger picture, which freed up my time for the higher-level work that actually moves the business forward.

Always give your team the “why” before the “what.” People work better when they understand the emotional and strategic context behind a task. It builds ownership, creates trust, and creates a team that anticipates needs rather than waiting for instructions.

We started “Friday Fails”, a weekly 15-minute meeting where everyone shares one mistake they made. While other teams focus solely on their victories, we have taken a different approach. On a weekly basis, all team members are asked about their mistakes during our Friday meetings. They briefly say what went wrong, and we go around and say what we learned. No comments, no feedback. Just pure listening.

This changed the team culture completely. People started not being quiet about their mistakes and started being more open to asking for help. People started learning from their team members’ mistakes instead of being the ones to make the mistakes. Trying new things became the new norm and people felt comfortable sharing their failures. No more hiding mistakes.

As a result, people started working on their projects more and finishing faster since people were not scared to make mistakes. Asking questions became a norm in the team and collaborators started working together more.

A tip anyone could apply to improve teamwork: Safety first. Being open about not knowing something or making a mistake creates a safe environment that allows people to communicate freely, and from that, real teamwork can succeed. When we make it acceptable not to be perfect, the team can really start to come together.

One unconventional practice we adopted was displaying real, unedited customer quotes throughout the office. Each week, our marketing manager selected and shared meaningful feedback, which kept the entire team close to actual customer experiences and impact. This made cross-functional conversations more focused and helped teams align around customer needs. It also encouraged accountability, since everyone could see how their work landed with customers. Tip: build a simple weekly ritual that makes customer feedback visible to everyone and use it to kick off team discussions.

It’s part of our culture to let our non-executives sometimes chair meetings so they can feel part of our company and be responsible for all the decisions we make. I know that it’s totally different from the usual top-down hierarchy setup in which senior members take full charge of this task.

Allowing them to assume this role makes them appreciate the full responsibility it comes with. Before meetings, they ask lots of questions, and even after they end, they follow up on all issues discussed to ensure they see the light of day.

I’m always happy to see our employees do things beyond their work because they feel responsible, rather than just waiting to be given instructions. They’re motivated to ensure that they complete all tasks we discussed, and they even offer suggestions on how we should improve those on the pending list. As a result, we experience no delays in our departments, and I attribute this positive change to this initiative.

For me, this is just one of the best ways of building a collaborative culture. Just be sure to allow all employees to host it for maximum impact.

A unique method we implemented to improve collaboration at Spendbase was to implement short, regular video calls (20 to 30 minutes) between departments. These sessions are typically comprised of two people who do not normally communicate but work together to complete a small assignment or generate a minimum of one idea. These sessions are conducted without a set agenda and do not carry the burden of high expectations; instead, they provide a relaxed atmosphere that fosters friendly communication and easy-going collaboration.

What was remarkable is that these calls had an enormously positive impact on the business environment. Team members began to appreciate one another’s strengths and difficulties through improved communication; as a result, new approaches and ways of doing business have emerged from our employees working together during those short meetings.

My recommendation for encouraging teamwork within an organisation is to provide your teams with greater opportunity to think together rather than simply report back to the organisation. When collaboration comes naturally, teams are much better aligned, more creative, and support one another much better than they normally would if forced to work separately.

I stopped being the “answer person.” I used to jump in and solve every issue. It made decision-making fast, but it stripped the team of the ability to make decisions. Instead, I decided to try something new: instead of tackling problems and deciding on my own, I began inviting one or two teammates to help make decisions.

The results exceeded my expectations, as employees began talking to one another instead of waiting for me. As a result, they were faster and more in sync.

As a leader, you need to get out of the way and stop being the bottleneck. When you stop being the only source of answers, the team naturally becomes more connected and more confident.

One thing that worked surprisingly well for us was cutting down on meetings instead of adding more “collaboration” time.

At one point, we realized most misalignment wasn’t because people weren’t talking enough, but because they were talking in the wrong settings. We moved a lot of discussions to short async updates and made ownership very clear, so fewer people were pulled into meetings they didn’t need to be in.

The impact was pretty immediate. If I had one tip, it would be: don’t confuse more communication with better communication. Clear ownership and fewer, better interactions usually beat more meetings every time.