George is the Founder and Ceo of a small and innovative setup that is growing very quickly in his market. Due to the need to progress quickly, George enlisted the help of a group of investors who at last acquired a much larger incumbent in the industry. Now, at least on paper, George has come to be the dominant player in his industry.
However, that is just where the problems arise. The team that George acquired had a very separate corporate culture from the one that George has. While most of their managers pride themselves after their past track records, they had grown quite complacent and are not responding fast sufficient to changes in the market. Since they have a much longer history and are indubitably much bigger that George's team, they are resentful that they had been acquired by what they perceived as fresh amateurs.
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Not surprisingly, the 2 teams end up fighting each other most of the time when they could have worked together to generate great results for all. One of the key issues of such infighting is that the senior executives bigger team are paid much higher salaries that are benchmarked after the executives of Fortune 500 companies, while George's traditional team is indubitably paid below the industry average, together with George himself.
Initially, George did not think the pay issue will cause such great tensions within the team. While he understood that this issue is only but the flashpoint of bigger conflicts between the 2 teams, the issue would have to be addressed if both teams were to move on and produce results.
Knowing that the issue is a thorny one that may lead to more conflicts if not handled well, George drew his caress of the Six reasoning Hats to embark on this crucial confrontation.
Start by Focusing on coarse Goals
In situations where both sides could potentially have very heated arguments, it make sense to plan and put in order before the conversation. After all, "victorious armies plans for victory before going into battles", And "the best victory is the one that's won without fighting" so says Sun Tzu. Hence the following framework that you can use if you want to conclude conflicts and build synergy:
Blue Hat - Start with the coarse goals that you and everyone else would like to achieve.
White Hat - obtain information, be that hard facts or hear say. Just obtain as much relevant facts as much as possible.
Yellow Hat - Look for areas where you can first give affirmation for the unavoidable contributions and intentions that the other party had made.
Black Hat - Let them know the negative consequences that will impact the coarse goals if nothing is done. Let them air their objections and concerns too.
Green Hat - invite and engage them to work with you on potential creative suggestions to help conclude the issue. Let the ideas flow and not criticise any ideas at this moment. You sometimes may need to generate an sufficient mass of unworkable ideas before you hit the indubitably good ones!
Red Hat - Getting everyone to express their feelings, as well as to vote on those suggestions they deem can be further industrialized into potential real solutions.
Yellow Hat - Give further affirmation that the team is doing well. Even if there has to be yet concrete results, give affirmation and encouragement for their attitude and effort.
Blue Hat - Map out the next steps, and set the rules for handling time to come conflicts and confrontations.
The main presume why arguments happen is that both sides tend to take the position of "I'm Right, You're Wrong". If both parties insist that they are right in their own way, and the other party is wrong, that means both parties are not willing to listen. Worse still, both parties tend to lose sight of their introductory objectives and fight for the sake of winning the fight. Well, they can win the argument, but they will not get the buy-in if that's the case.
Hence, the first step is to start with coarse goals and objectives. Differences in opinions and ways of doing things will exist even with the smallest of teams. With the greater emphasis for innovative reasoning as a company, and the increasing need for self-expression by younger team members, the role of leaders is not to make everyone comply with only one way of doing things. Rather, the role of leaders is to allow flexibility As Long As coarse goals and objectives can be met.
The other thing that needs to be done is to give affirmation to someone with conflicting views. Unless you indubitably do not want to, and will not need to, work with that someone ever again, you will have to think of ways to win that someone over. Besides, no matter how much you disdain that person's performance, it's likely that the someone will still have made unavoidable contributions in the past, and that's one area that you can feature to retort those past contributions.
Communicating Your Differences and Seeking Collaborative Solutions
Here are some examples how the conversation can be conducted to conclude conflicts and build synergy, with regards to the issue faced by George:
Blue Hat - "I'd like to discuss unavoidable issues that might be preventing our team to be more competitive, so that we can be even more thriving in future. Is that Ok with you?"
White Hat - "I understand that we are paying some of our executives salaries that are above the industry average. I also understand that some of our staff felt that it is an unfair convention because of that."
Yellow Hat - "I do appreciate that the presume for having a compassionate holder for some executives is so that we can attract the best talent in the market. I also appreciate that most of our executives have been delivering exceptional results in recent years."
Black Hat - "At the same time, I'd like you to understand that such high pay packages may be increasing our costs, and hence decreasing our competitiveness. Furthermore, some of our people, together with a estimate of high-performers, are perceiving that it is an unfair practice, and are feeling very disengaged as a result. Having said that though, I would also like to hear from you what concerns you might have if we were to tell our executives' pay."
Green Hat - "Let's examine alternatives that could help us attract the best talent, and as well as to claim our competitiveness. I'll be more than happy to listen to your suggestions and ideas, and please do generate as many ideas as possible."
Red Hat - "Can I know how you are feeling now? Can we pick the top 3 ideas that we like most?"
Yellow Hat - "Thank you all for your contributions. I think these are great ideas that we can start exploring how to put them into action"
Blue Hat - "How would you like to schedule an operation plan so we can start the reviewing the executives' pay packages?"
On the other hand, if you are in the sales department, and would need to win the support of the yield department to customise a sample to meet a customer's last-minute request, this could be how you can arrival them:
Blue Hat - "As our team is having this customer invite for a customised sample, is it Ok that I ask you to help with this request?"
White Hat - "The customer needs the sample by tomorrow. Let me know what support you need so I can help you meet this tight deadline."
Yellow Hat - "I do appreciate that you have been helping our customers with their requests, and I believe supervision also appreciate your efforts too"
Black Hat - "I do understand that such a invite will cause some inconveniences for you. Please do share with me what else is causing problems for you."
Green Hat - "Since meeting the customer's deadline is going to be a big issue here, can we both work together to see what else can be done to at least cut delays, while at the same time allow me to negotiate with the customer for more time?"
Red Hat - "Do you feel unavoidable of delivering what you just said on time? If not, it's Ok to see what else we can do."
Yellow Hat - "Thank you for making the extra endeavor to do this. I will make sure the customer appreciate the results of your final product."
Blue Hat - "If all is set, is it Ok pick up the sample? Please feel free to give me a shout anytime you need my help."
It is imaginable that actual conversations to conclude such conflicts to be a lot more fiery and emotional. If all parties are trained in the Six reasoning Hats or other skills that will help conclude conflicts and build synergy, the effects will be a lot better.
Winning Them Over
Ultimately, if you see yourself as winning over others who might be having unavoidable conflicts or retention separate ideas from yours, you can then tap into their intelligence and resources and generate more synergy. On the other hand, if you are bent on crushing the opposition, you generate dissent and division. At best, you will not get willing cooperation. In some cases, you may indubitably disengage them and see them working for your competitors. Worse still, it may ensue in serious infighting between teams.
Hence, here are some guidelines to follow:
Focus on the coarse goals that both or all parties would like to achieve;
Be willing to share information;
Give affirmation to the other party, no matter how difficult it is to find what they have done right;
Listen or even actively solicit what their concerns are or what they are unhappy about;
Seek to work together towards coarse goals
Does that mean that you can work with anyone and win them over? perhaps not. However, it will be your onus to seek to build synergies with others, regardless of what your position in your team is, and regardless of their beliefs or attitudes. United we stand, and divided we fall. You can help make the citizen around you live and work as One United People, so as to accomplish happiness, progress and prosperity for all.
How to rule Conflicts and Build Synergy between Confrontational and Cross-Functional Teams