A powerful tool I picked up at Airbnb when I became a manager was "Designing Alliances". Now I do this with everyone who starts on my team or when I start a cross-functional imitative. When we start a partnership, it's easy to assume everything will run smoothly and the relationship will be great. But conflicts will inevitably come up. Natural tensions will occur because of personality differences or simply because of functional focus. Unwritten rules of engagement will be broken. With some forethought, you can provide a container for these natural conflicts. The purpose of designing an alliance is to encourage teammates to consciously choose how they want to show up to each other and provide a roadmap, should things go off-track. It values BOTH the relationship and the task. Some general areas to cover when designing an alliance and sample questions: - Understanding expectations: What are your expectations from this relationship or project? - Communication preferences: How do you prefer to communicate (email, phone, in-person, messaging apps)? - Feedback and Support: What does effective and supportive feedback look like to you? How do you prefer to receive feedback and how often? - Conflict Resolution: How should we handle disagreements or conflicts that may arise? - Work Styles and Preferences: What are your strengths and areas where you seek support? - Goals and Motivations: What are your personal and professional goals in this collaboration? - Logistics and Practicalities: How often should we meet or check in? - Celebrating Success: What does recognition mean to you in a professional setting? Some of these may seem basic but you'd be surprised how many big conflicts are caused by a misalignment on one of these fundamental areas of communication and trust. If you are looking to build stronger relationships that can survive conflict, I encourage you to try some of these out! #recruiting #hiring #techrecruiting #leadership #teamwork