RELATIONSHIP BUILDING AND COLLABORATION
Mattessich & Monsey (2016) points out that most managers admit the fact that effective collaboration is very effective in today’s licentious business atmosphere. For any business to emerge being innovative and cost-effective from all dimensions, successful teamwork must take effect. Fundamentally, the survival of an organization barely depends on how well and capable it will combine with the available quality of information and employee potentials. Above all, the employee’s willingness to work together, share, and disseminate information within the business is also essential.
Blocking significant business collaboration within organizations has become synonymous with decreased productivity and lack of cooperation. There are great need and concern to recognize various individuals who learn, teach, and share, and go ahead penalizing those who do not cooperate. In any organization, regardless of the industry in which they fall, an employee who is unable to build knowledge about their fellow’s ideas are likely to face serious career consequences. Therefore, it is wise to rewards and promotes employees who teach, work and mentor at the same time, regardless of the departmental boundaries of the organization’s they are working for (Kirkman et al., 2014). Efforts of business units together with organizational associates towards the creation of decent communication and belief will ensure that a stronger platform that will sustain successful alliances is created.
As pointed out earlier, humans are social creatures, and due to this reason, they mostly crave for any positive interaction that they come across. The better the relationship they get at work, or capable of creating, the happier and more productive they become in various activities that they take part in. Presence of healthy working conditions allows workers to sail along variations to be implemented, making them more innovative and creative. This depicts one of the essential aspects of building a healthy relationship when there is a need for career advancement.
Horizontal linkages are significant towards managers who are at a similar level. They help them cooperate and join up the value chain, and hence efficiently accomplishing the tasks that organizational departments working independently could not accomplish. This linkage comes in several forms. For example, it can be in terms of cooperation, competition, or can be both at times. Well-organized and effective horizontal linkages can minimize the costs, spur favorable conditions, and also enhance the efficiencies as far as the organization is concerned. Besides, they can lead to the creation and opening of open and fair markets (Kirkman et al., 2014). The building of formal partnership is a time-consuming activity due to the presence of tensions and competing agendas. Therefore, there is a need to select and also assess the value collaboration of two parties will bring after they are merged. The following is a sample assessment procedure that can be followed to come up with active collaboration and collaboration among team members (Fox, 2015).
INFORMATION
Strategies for building a Win-Win Relationship
Aims
To promote mutual reverence and trust for evocative and outcomes among all the managers
To maintain and develop, which may not or may finally result in training outcomes.
Direction/Outcome
To offer training consultancy and high superiority drill.
To implement and respond to approaches in the execution phase
How to make a follow-up
Overcome relationship barriers at all stages
Maintain and grow the relationship
Seek out for feedback
Contacts to maintain and improve the relationship
Invitations to open days
Newsletters
Issuance of study guides
Other simple techniques which build trust
Value differing insights and opinions
Admitting mistakes
Being approachable
When one realizes mistakes, he or she achieves great strides in strengthening and building
Trust. This clearly shows that;
They accept responsibility for the actions they care about truth and accuracy
They care about the interest and needs of others
They accept responsibility for the mistakes of others
Ingenuousness in the relationship
This builds good rapport, and it depends on the people who are involved
Trust is important. An open and candid relationship is important
Trust and honesty results from the combination of;
Effective and efficient interpersonal communication techniques
Professional credibility and integrity
Highly set business code of ethics
Regularly sharing your ideas, feelings, and thoughts by being honest and the reasons why
It’s critical.
Workmates get facts which they base their judgments
They get to trust and believe in you Employees get to know about the management and them
Can expect ingenuity
They work within the required framework of procedures and policies
Respect by ensuring high standards of professional integrity and conduct by maintaining
Confidentiality
Fairness and consistency. The willingness to share valuable information and be honest and
Open
Appreciation of individual differences and an unpretentious desire to learn from them
Maintenance of interaction and communication once a relationship is established
Enhancing skills in conflict management such as negotiations and collaborations
Partnering with individuals who are performance oriented
Collaborating on joint objectives and mutual goal monitoring/setting
Accepting and requesting for feedback
Promoting and Improving mutual opportunities
Exchanging/sourcing industry and market information
Organizational and individual factors approved to sustain and build trust
Functional sense and business competence
Integrity
Inter-personal aptitude
Loyalty
It is worth noting and understanding that sustainable collaboration cannot be treated as a project of its own. Instead, it should be embroiled to absolutely all organizational activities. It is the responsibility of the organizations to collaborate with all its employees so that they can successfully examine their strategic and operational objectives with their leaders and fellow staff members from diverse fields within the organization. Existing business environments calls that various people should be engaged to different skills on several areas so that they can understand the market challenges easily, understand different customer demands as well as possible solutions towards the highlighted issues.
Productivity cycle
Collaboration founded on a win-win result serves as an ultimate solution to various challenges organizations face. They also address the existing disagreements that arise within an organization. Collaboration process results typically from the proper understanding of one another interests and professional skills. ((Kirkman, Rosen, Gibson, Tesluk & McPherson, 2002). The synergy resulting from mutual venture results to outcomes that are far much better when compared to the results that a private party can offer or achieve over a particular time.
Best practices on relationship building and fostering a win/win environment
Relationship building and win/win environment are two conjoined aspects. Most of the popular literature in the field of leadership and management have been advocating the need for collaboration and win/win solutions that can be applied in addressing various issues. Collaboration is an advantageous act that any organization makes it among the top goals. The following are sample practices that can be used in relationship building and fostering of a win to win environment.
Listening to others and seeking to understand them before they understand you
Investing enough time to understand the stakeholders and the dynamic of their conversations has a significant impact on the type of relationships created. Active engagement of a person in any activity makes the ones being addressed more interested in whatever task being executed. Failure to listen appropriately leads to a misunderstanding and eventually, failure (Fisher, Ury & Patton, 1981). Full understanding of one another’s position opens an avenue through which other problems can be created and hence leading to a win/win environment.
Project managers should set good examples
Being careless in tasks is subjected to is one of the quickest ways of losing the respect of stakeholders, workers, and the entire organization at large. On the other hand, being an effective manager will earn you a lot of respect. This will enhance and stabilize the open relationship between the associated parties. Hence, creating a win/win environment.
Managers should be proactive and take responsibility for actions taken
Resolving issues proactively will also earn you respect from the fellows and stakeholders. Things will also make them confront you in an executive and conducive manner that will propel easy strategies of solving problems. Being proactive also opens avenue through which various issues can be contained in a more appealing way. Hence resulting in a win/win environment (Goode, 2016).
References
Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (1981). Getting to. Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.
Fox, S., (2015). Communities Of Practice, Foucault, And Actor‐Network Theory. Journal of management studies, 37(6), 853-868.
Goode, S., (2016). Our Employee Resource Groups Good for Business?. HR Magazine, 24-25.
Gratton, L., & Erickson, T. J., (2007). Eight ways to build collaborative teams. Harvard business review, 85(11), 100.
Kirkman, B. L., Rosen, B., Gibson, C. B., Tesluk, P. E., & McPherson, S. O. (2014). Five challenges to virtual team success: Lessons from Sabre, Inc. Academy of Management Perspectives, 16(3), 67-79.
Lo, K., Macky, K., & Pio, E. (2015). The HR competency requirements for strategic and functional HR practitioners. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(18), 2308-2328.
Mattessich, P. W., & Monsey, B. R., (2016). Collaboration: what makes it work. A review of research literature on factors influencing successful collaboration. Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, 919 Lafond, St. Paul, MN 55104.