When experienced change managers who have successfully led several demanding and complex transformations exchange insights, there is one common denominator: “You can solve many technical and functional problems if the relationship level is right. However, it doesn’t work the other way around.” This was also recently emphasized by Mareike Mende-Ratnam, CHRO of the Douglas Group, at the Wirtschaftsclub Duesseldorf (Business Club).
Now the perfect time for reflection
The approaching summer break is the opportunity to step back and take a fresh look at your most important projects and initiatives – and to reflect specifically on the people involved:
Which projects are running particularly smoothly? Why is that? Who are you working with on those projects?
Which projects have been struggling for some time? Is the complexity really higher? Is the pressure to prioritize significantly greater than in your other projects?
Or could the real issue be something else? That no one openly addresses problems and conflicts of interest? That responsibilities are constantly being passed around? Or perhaps even that rivalries and personal conflicts are being played out at the expense of the project?
Three options for action, if it’s a people’s issue
If you find, taking a closer look, that collaboration is the biggest hurdle in the project, you have various options:
- Change something yourself
Be honest with yourself: What have you personally done to build and maintain the necessary level of trust and collaboration within the project? Have you brushed aside objections from team members and colleagues, or have you taken them seriously? Have you recognized and appreciated good ideas throughout the course of the project? - Identify the problem in the team and seek support
Not so easy? A professional facilitator can support you – for example, through a team offsite – e.g., by bringing passive-aggressive behaviour, often wrapped in layers of politeness, into the open and helping the team address and overcome it together. - Reset the project
Bring people on board who genuinely want to collaborate and contribute. In some cases, it may even make sense to end an ongoing project and restart it with a revised focus and a new team constellation. Doing so is not a sign of failure. On the contrary, it demonstrates ownership, accountability, and the willingness to take the lead.
Do not waste energy on problems that cannot be solved on a technical level. Use the summer as an opportunity for a fresh start – and dare to make a decisive breakthrough.
Saskia Lübbers, Director
H/Advisors Deekeling Arndt