By valeska.wordpress.com
Companies normally turn to team building, training, arguments, and many more techniques in attempt to resolve internal conflict.
However, people make decisions based on judgment. How will this benefit me? Am I wasting my time? Why am I being sucked into doing someone else’s job?
There are many principles as to how decisions are made and what motivates people. However, by having a clear understanding of how the business process is supposed to flow within an organization greatly diminishes staff placing the responsibility on someone else.
You may find your team frustrated and complaining. You may experience an increase in project delays. Sometimes upper management feels they need to dictate to colleagues “how things should be,” but this management syle only creates barriers from receiving honest insight from your colleagues and increases defensiveness. Creating a system that allows colleagues to pose “solutions” with their team will instill a behavior that allows them to continuously strive to find the best ways to work together.
Business Rule Tip!
a) If you have an intranet system or an internal blog, create a folder where everyone is allowed to contribute “solutions.” Anytime someone has a complaint or wants to criticize how things are done, they should pose a “solution” to proactively show an alternative way to deal with the issue. Encourage your team to provide useful suggestions on ways to improve “our” company efficiencies and an overall smoother operation. Important to explain how each suggestion must have a purpose, focus and clear communication as to the “why” and “what” you are trying to accomplish. This will increase “buy in” and prevent staff from taking these new suggestions personally. Please note: It is very important for senior managers to review these suggestions on a bi-weekly or monthly basis to enforce policies. If months pass before decisions are made, suggestions will decrease, while frustration increases.
Analyzing said suggestions from your colleagues will help to reveal “real problems”, and most likely reasonable solutions to those problems.
I have a question for you: how many times does upper management make decisions without asking those who are involved in the day-to-day activities?
Fixes made without asking those who are involved will negatively affect other processes further down the project cycle.
Business Rule Tip!
a) It is important to understand how each process affects another function within the work environment. Learning “Process Mapping” will help you to see how one activity affects another and reveal where there are areas of opportunity for process improvement. By demonstrating to your team how each activity supports the other, colleagues will begin to understand how each player contributes to the team as a whole.
The work environment is a GROUP effort. By cultivating this change in thinking amongst your players, they will better understand how their strengths benefit others. By creating a supportive network, colleagues will understand who to go to for help. By maximizing each other’s strengths, the synergy amongst all will allow the company to propel forward.
Business Rule Tip!
a) Build Trust. By creating an environment where each individual understands they are all part of a team and helping one another professionally, trust occurs. Reach out to others when asked for guidance. Practice good communication. When conflict occurs, teams who have trust tend to quickly overcome conflicts in order to move on with business goals.
b) Compassion, Respect, and Patience breeds response. Relating to each other’s unique qualities and job positions during high levels of stress will create quicker turn around on your business goals. An interesting article that reinforces this methodology is called: The Power of Nice.
