The Team – herding cats?
“We are not reliable and consistent. With so many people interacting in our overly complex organisation we get 'right hand, left hand' conflicting information problems. Also promises are not followed through.”
Engineering Contractor, UK Rail
The ‘top’ has decided you are going to work closely with another company to do something new (innovative new product or service). The contract has been signed and it’s all systems go. You now need to form a joint ‘team’ who will make it happen. This is not as easy as it sounds. Your Relationship Managers may well need a share of the time and resources from a number of departments across both organisations. Not only will these need to be negotiated but all will need to know how they fit together and who does what. Finally, you will need to think about how you give this disparate group a sense of team spirit.
“They have a bit of a comms gap between the engineers and other depts such as purchasing, R&D and commercial. Sometimes we have to bridge this gap for them.”
CEO, Electronics Components Supplier
The Relationship Managers will act as your ‘ringmasters’, who will pull the team together so that nobody feels left out. They will produce the master plan for all to see of how the collaboration will actually function. What it’s going to produce plus the when and how. They need to identify the managers and their staff and ensure that they have the necessary skills and capacity to play their part. Often this is overlooked by the ‘big hand, small map’ people on high!
“They need to step up and take the lead in ensuring that the partnership works. In the absence of that, the partners work together only when they have to. There is no mutual trust.”
Project Manager, Global Software Services
The RMs need to be ‘people people’ who will gather ideas and observations instead of making all decisions on their own. They will keep their people informed about progress and current developments and personal and team ‘wins’ will be celebrated. Through small successes trust will build and the team will be willing to go the extra mile. Low and behold you will have created something that is manageable and can ‘motor’.
“By having a member of staff in their team we are able to communicate much better, reduce misunderstandings, and gain a much clearer idea of the plans for the business.”
Project Director, UK Defence Engineering Supplier
If you have a cohesive team working within your clear, joint plan that spans the partnership, it will be a strong, proactive, resilient, innovative backbone of a successful collaborative relationship.
“You feel you are not working for your company; you feel you are working for the team.” Project Manager, Terminal 5 Electrical Equipment Sub-contractor