So, how can your team transform the competition for the best use of internal resources into collaboration?
- First of all, the leaders have to be focused on the best interest of the organization and not just their team.
- Secondly, there has to be a strong foundation of trust so that people can debate the best use of the organization’s resources. Without the debate, there won’t be commitment to the ultimate decision. You might even see teams revisiting the same decisions over and over again.
- Finally, leaders must support the decisions made, even if they didn’t agree with those decisions. That means modeling the way in front of their people versus complaining about another department and its leader.
Don’t confuse the constructive debate about resources with competition for and hoarding of those resources. The first is a critical component of a well functioning team and the latter is a manipulative and self-serving act.