RECOGNIZING OTHER PEOPLES ROLE

Pubblicato da thinksharecomment Establishing good work relationships with all our colleagues can be easier said than done. Often we find people we work well with, they seem to understand us and our way of working, with them we can easily sort out any hiccup that may arise. Also in the same measure we find people who appear to be there just to annoy us. They seem to be trying to put as many obstacles in our path as they can. Why do they do this?
A LITTLE STORY

Few weeks back I gave some coaching advice to a colleague, Vanessa, who was living this situation with a peer named John. She was getting frustrated about this situation, and was complaining to me asking why was this guy so confrontational with her. She did nothing to provoke him whatsoever. With a short chat we analyzed the dynamics and the relationships between John, Vanessa and Marc, the head of sales based oversees. Initially it was difficult to understand why this friction was there since although Vanessa and John are peers, they have very different and defined roles. She is in charge of supporting Marc in the sales process, while John is in charge of processing orders and see them through to the factory. Soon enough a behavioral pattern started to be outlined. Every time Marc had an order processing issues he took them to Vanessa, asking her to take action with John to get the process moving again. Since Vanessa and Marc have a good personal and work relationship, she found no reason why she shouldnt get involved and help him out. Unfortunately by doing so she didnt realize how this was undermining Johns role and authority. John on the other hand felt threatened by this behavior. Instead of escalating to his line manager (which is also Vanessas) to sort priorities or issues, Marc escalated to Vanessa, as if she had higher authority over him, questioning his role and value. His reaction was to go defensive. In his stance he used his role to make things difficult for them, showing he has decision power, authority and autonomy from them. Once this came out, Vanessa and I worked on a new behavior, aiming to re-balance the relationship with John, by recognizing his role, giving back to him his responsibilities, authority and autonomy. Recognizing his value and role in the company. Now when Marc asks her to intervene, she differs the request to her manager, recognizing Johns role. Also if she has time to help instead of acting direct, she now asks John if and how she can get involved to help him out, ready to help in the way he wants the activity to be handled, recognizing Johns authority. it has only been few weeks since the behavioral changes, but things seems to be more relaxed now between the two of them.

FOOD FOR THOUGHTS

When we feel frustrated by some colleagues actions we should ask ourselves if this may be the result of a defensive position they are taking. If so, what are the dynamics behind our behavior that may have caused this. Did we cross our responsibility boundary and invaded someone elses role? Are we taking organizational shortcuts? Are we questioning our colleagues roles? most times these are done unintentionally, nonetheless causing relationship damages that may have a big impact to our work life environment.