Get Your Negotiating Team To Collaborate
Management of a major project and / or program frequently involves internal cross-functional teams that are large, diverse, and virtual. For example, developing and negotiating “Requirements Document” of a new product or service, could involve a large team consisting of members from product management, marketing, finance, IT and sales. As team becomes large and dispersed, team performance falls. To maintain a high performance level, leaders can foster collaboration within such complex teams in at least three ways:
- Train employees in the negotiation skills. Most people don’t collaborate by nature. They need the right skills: appreciating others, engaging in purposeful conversations, and productively solving conflicts. In other words, they need to strengthen their negotiation skills.
- Help employees get to know each other. People who know each other socially are more likely to collaborate during negotiations. Companies need to invest in facilitating networking and social events to build a sense of community. This is clearly evident from successes of companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook and so on.
- Be a Role Model: Employees follow or copy what they see at the top. If leaders model collaborative behavior, so will the employees. Leaders could even fill in for each other occasionally. This way they can appreciate challenges and opportunities in other areas and also display a collaborative conduct.
