Building alliances across departments is a key skill for workforce management, especially in complex and dynamic organizations. It can help you achieve your goals, improve collaboration, and foster a positive culture. But how do you build effective and lasting alliances across different functions, teams, and personalities? Here are some best practices to follow.
The first step to building alliances is to find out what motivates and matters to the other departments. What are their goals, challenges, and needs? How can you align your objectives with theirs and create win-win situations? By identifying common interests, you can establish rapport, trust, and mutual respect. You can also avoid potential conflicts and misunderstandings by being aware of the different perspectives and expectations.
Building alliances across departments is crucial for fostering collaboration and achieving shared organizational goals. When everyone understands the big picture, it becomes easier to find common ground and work together. Building alliances takes time and effort. Consistently invest in relationship-building activities and create opportunities for collaboration. By fostering strong alliances across departments, you can enhance communication, and promote a culture of collaboration that benefits the entire organization.
I feel one of the best ways to build alliances is to run team building activities and put different people from different departments in each team. Different activities can showcase different people and departments, strengths and weaknesses. It is also a great opportunity for people to naturally bond with the pressures of the work environment.
The second step to building alliances is to communicate frequently and clearly with the other departments. Communication is essential for sharing information, ideas, feedback, and support. It also helps you build relationships, understand each other's roles and responsibilities, and coordinate your actions. You can communicate effectively by using multiple channels, such as meetings, emails, chats, and phone calls. You can also use clear and concise language, avoid jargon and acronyms, and tailor your message to your audience.
Clear and concise communication with internal stakeholders is even more important to address in remote settings. Communication has many layers when we collaborate in person (voice, tone, body language, facial expressions and gestures) -- much of this experience is missing or is infrequent when people work in remote settings. This impacts how teams understand each other and often leads to groupism which can only be effectively tackled by creating opportunities for team members to communicate in a clear, yet structured style while aligning on common goals (usually at a corporate level).
Listen genuinely. Show it in your body language and responses, make them feel heard, maintain eye contact, and be open and respectful. This builds strong, long-lasting connections.
The third step to building alliances is to collaborate on projects and initiatives that involve the other departments. Collaboration is a great way to demonstrate your value, skills, and expertise. It also helps you learn from each other, leverage your strengths, and overcome your weaknesses. You can collaborate successfully by defining clear roles and expectations, setting realistic and measurable goals, and using tools and processes that facilitate teamwork.
I believe a great deal was covered here with the interesting answers, I would like to add that a manager/head/supervisor should be willing to share information and resources , be respectful of different perspectives & provide support at all times and make sure to ask for support when needed by showcasing the importance of the objective that you want to reach
The fourth step to building alliances is to recognize and appreciate the contributions of the other departments. Recognition and appreciation are powerful ways to show your respect, gratitude, and admiration. They also help you boost morale, engagement, and loyalty. You can recognize and appreciate the other departments by giving positive feedback, celebrating achievements, and acknowledging challenges. You can also use formal and informal methods, such as awards, thank-you notes, and shout-outs.
The fifth step to building alliances is to resolve conflicts constructively when they arise. Conflicts are inevitable in any organization, but they can also be opportunities for learning and improvement. They can help you identify gaps, issues, and areas for growth. You can resolve conflicts constructively by focusing on the problem, not the person, listening actively and empathetically, and seeking solutions that benefit both parties.
The sixth step to building alliances is to maintain and nurture the relationships you have built with the other departments. Relationships are not static, but dynamic and evolving. They require constant attention and care. You can maintain and nurture the relationships by staying in touch, following up, and providing ongoing support. You can also seek feedback, share best practices, and look for new ways to collaborate and grow together.
My golden rule of 3 is: 1- Always look for common ground 2- Be a good listener 3- Make sure you give credit where credit is due and you involve others in your decision making process. That's how you build alliances.
Successful management of partnerships and alliances starts with a genuine intent of trying to better understand the other team/ organisation, rather than focusing on your goals alone. Effective collaboration starts from making a real effort to understand the aspirations of other teams and what are the challenges they face. In my experience, where such an effort often fails is from the starting point where the team leader has no genuine interest in understanding the "other side" - but follows a scripted approach to achieve their own goals. Genuine relationship building needs authentic people that have a long term vision, rather than immediate outcome focus.