The Quick Five - how to quickly identify if your team is going to the dogs... or coming up roses

How much does your team exhibit the following behaviours in projects they manage and negotiation/decision making situations?

Rate using a 4 point scale – Always (4), Most of the time (3), Sometimes (2), Hardly Ever (1)

Action and Outcome Orientation

1. Naturally compelled to take action and adopt a “get this done” attitude
2. Aren’t paralyzed by lack of formal authority in moving forward
3. Negotiate the right outcomes that meet or exceed goals
4. Able to implement stable and workable agreements

Collaborative Decision Making

1. Achieve engagement and alignment among key stakeholders even when there is disagreement on how to approach a problem or challenge
2. Manage the involvement of ALL key stakeholders in decisions that affect them
3. Don’t railroad others into decisions that support your own personal belief systems about the best outcome
4. Facilitate collaborative problem solving to include multiple perspectives and generate robust ideas
5. Spend time working WITH stakeholders to agree a decision rather than spending longer than is necessary preparing a case for an idea that won’t fly

Collective Bargaining

1. Focus time on getting stakeholders to “live” with the decision rather than to unanimously “love” the decision
2. Negotiate outcomes that represent the collective view?
3. Constructively surface and explore concerns and objections
4. Manage difficult tactics and hard bargainers to keep negotiations on track

Inclusiveness

1. Have a genuine respect for everyone’s views and understanding ensuring people feel heard AND understood.
2. Ensure the emergence of new combined views occurs along with a strong focus on innovation
3. Abie to build relationships even when there is disagreement
4. In dealings with your team, people talk more about getting a great outcome than they do about having lost or been a victim of what was said/done

Personal Dynamics

1. Understand own default behaviours in conflict situations and leverage other skilful ways to navigate these situations
2. Understand own personal impact in a situation and adapt their approach accordingly
3. Able to decode why people do (or don’t do) the things you want them to do
4. Identify sources of conflict and able to defuse effectively
5. Spend the majority of time having conversations rather than preparing for meetings and putting reports together

High Score (80+)

Your team holds superstar status in negotiating great outcomes.? You are the masters of collaboration. Those who work with you feel engaged, listened to and included in the outcomes of work you deliver. Your team recognises the power of collectively working together to deliver an outcome and spends a great deal of time cultivating the relationships that support that.? Conflict resolution is “your thing” and you ensure you spend time managing this effectively through active engagement and solicitation of feedback.

Middle score (31-79)

Your team is winning on some things in the area of collaborative negotiation.? Perhaps you do a fantastic job in engaging the right people at the right time but struggle with agreeing the right outcomes when dealing with the breadth of viewpoints put across and how to manage all the different personalities.? You’ve developed a reputation as being diligent in your approach and having the right intentions but sometimes you lose your way when challenges or difficulties present.? Your projects can go off track and generate a lot of noise internally when they do.? You need some help in effectively harnessing the power of the personalities and needs of your various stakeholders and delivering outcomes that people can live with.? If this is you and you’re striving for superstar status then we can help!

Low Score (below 30)

Your team needs help in ensuring project stakeholders feel engaged and part of the plan.? Your team has developed a reputation as either a bull dozer, where no one feels particularly good about their interactions with you, or a ditherer, where you cannot agree on the next steps for the plan and interactions just end up a bit wishy washy.? Either way, things start to go pear shaped and outcomes take longer to achieve or just don’t end up meeting organisational goals. If this is you, we can help!?