Think about what you know. Knowledge is power. Why would I want to share what I know with others? What is in it for me? Do you prioritize me first? Are you a servant manager? Do you prioritize your team first? Do you prioritize the big picture and what is best for the organization with its mission, vision, goals, and values? These questions demonstrate that you often come up with different answers depending on your perspective. When everything aligns, it is easy. When they don’t, there can be ethical issues. What about a transition such as being acquired or when acquiring another entity, and you are supposed to partner going forward? Who can you trust? Collaborating can bring on stress, ethical issues, personality differences, organizational and cultural differences, and other issues. These types of experiences are not unique. When this happens, the need for survival comes into play, and the idea of collaboration is hardly the first thing that comes to mind.
Think about clients, vendors, employees, consultants, shareholders, and other stakeholders. It is common for managers to compete for the best people and resources, so this scenario of looking out for oneself and having concern for collaboration must consider both the benefits and the costs. So, what can you do to, on the one hand, protect yourself and, on the other hand, look at how, with shared goals, you may do even better?
Be self-aware
Understand your role and where you fit into the situation. Examine how you contribute to the problem or the solution. Most people are not fully self-aware. They do not stop; look at the situation and where they fit in. If you understand yourself, your own goals, and how much you value the opinions of others, this will help reduce conflicts. Accountability for your own actions is the first step. Reflect on what is working, what needs to change, and how you may improve going forward. If you have children, you will likely raise them to do their best and make sound judgments. Similarly, you, too, need to stop, reflect, and make sure you are making sound judgments. Continue to be a lifelong learner. Be careful about being judgmental. Be aware of your bias to be critical and judge. Turn this into an opportunity to be a learner who leads with compassion and listens with empathy. Others will want to partner with you when you do. Seek out trusted mentors or coaches and ask for their help. How do they see you? How can you improve going forward? What do you need to work on to be better?
Focus on ways to partner for better results
“It is not about me
It is all about we
It starts with me.”
Your attitude matters. Do you see this as an opportunity or a problem to complain about? There likely are competing priorities at any point in time. At any point in time, what are your priorities? Help sort them out with additional questioning. Write out your goals. Given those goals, ask these types of questions:
Who are the key stakeholders I need to engage to make this happen by a given time frame?
What resources will we need?
Who’s authority do I have to have to make key decisions?
What are the opportunity costs if I do or don’t get what we need?
Who will do what by when?
Write these out. Reach out to your cross-functional counterparts and look at how we may all go further together rather than each of us doing it alone. But, how do they know whether they can trust you or not or if you can trust them?
Initiate and establish trust
If you are in a difficult situation and everyone is looking out for themselves there may be very little interest in partnering. Trust may be very low. If you are authentic, are perceived as competent, and they know you care about them, you have come a long way towards developing trust. When I founded my firm one of my mentors told me I had to get in front of people and they had to like me, trust me, and see value added in what I was offering. This held true then and it holds now. They do not care about what you know until you know you care for them.
What can you do to demonstrate you care for them in words and actions?
How can you open and transparent so they know you doing your best to be honest and authentic?
Demonstrate decision making that is as inclusive as possible to ensure understanding.
Take the time to listen actively and ensure you are listening with empathy.
How do you demonstrate appreciation with successes?
How do you hold yourself and others accountable?
Have a shared commitment
What are we about? What are our values? How do we demonstrate our values in how we work, what we do, and how we treat each other? What is our shared commitment for the future?
Present the shared goal. Present what you think it will take to meet that goal within a certain time frame. Explain why. Then ask what will it take to get us from here to there? How can you help as the leader? As this unfolds reach an agreement with each party on their commitment. Ensure everyone understands his or her role and responsibilities. We are in this together. How can we help each other? Things happen. When things happen, how can we help each other to accomplish the task?
Andrew Carnegie shared, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
Learn from this commentary and consider exploring your own self awareness, focus on ways to partner with others through joint collaboration, build relationships with others and develop trust, demonstrate commitment by offering to help and organize who will do what by when so that collectively we all do better.
Check out these links if you would like to learn more about
Check out these links if you would like to learn more about collaboration, conflict resolution, or enhancing your servant manager skills.