Have you ever found yourself trying to get many people in different departments or on your project team to all agree to something, or to try to come to consensus on a critical decision by committee? It can be like herding cats across a wide field into a fenced-in area at the back, if you don’t watch out. Especially if there are several issues of varying importance to the participants and differing personalities and needs.
What if you had a straightforward process that took into account multiple parties with very different interests and shortened the time to decision?
The ability to be self-motivated and lead others is a highly important attribute in the workplace today. Strong leadership ability is on most business education and corporate performance competency lists and there are many philosophies on effective leadership behaviors. From surveys, research, stories and history, there is one method for leading that stands out as inadequate at best and highly damaging at worst -fear.
In the world of talent development, employee engagement is a high priority. Learning leaders have a unique vantage point from which to usher in, facilitate and revise strategies that affect a large part of the organization, particularly as it pertains to preparing people affected by large-scale change. However, they can’t do this in a vacuum. They need collaborators who trust them, and that requires internal negotiation skills that allow them to overcome objections, explore mutual interests and commit to a win-win outcome through a joint problem-solving process.
How learning leaders can use collaboration skills to enhance employee engagement
Have you ever found yourself incredulous at how quickly your conversation with someone has deteriorated and the tension is mounting, your and their emotions are flying and you are flummoxed as to how you got there? It’s like being on an escalator that you can’t get off of, nor turn around and go down, and you are stuck riding to the top in order to reverse course.
A reminder of the positive impact of practicing gratitude.
In this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment, there is an immense opportunity to develop and hone the competencies that support individuals as they navigate the challenges of today's workplace. At the core is a need for interpersonal savvy that includes the ability to communicate well and develop effective relationships based on principles of trust and value.