Transforming Departmental Conflicts into Collaborative Opportunities

Unlock the secrets to bridging departmental gaps and fostering a culture of collaboration! What if you could transform inter-departmental conflicts into opportunities for growth and unity? In this episode, we introduce a revolutionary methodology that prioritizes active listening and structured feedback, enabling teams to unravel and address cross-departmental concerns effectively. Learn how rotating peer-to-peer conversations can enhance understanding and create a supportive environment for discussing departmental strengths and areas for improvement.

We guide you through the entire process, from conducting insightful breakout sessions to facilitating impactful feedback roundups. Emphasizing the importance of structured feedback—two strengths and one area for improvement—this approach ensures that concerns are heard and addressed thoughtfully. Discover how these techniques not only break down silos but also empower teams with actionable insights, fostering a culture of mutual respect and collaboration. Tune in to learn how to transform conflict into a catalyst for meaningful change and create stronger, more cohesive teams.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

Now, as we all know, when we have a cross-departmental or siloed department, conflict arises. One of the best things that we can do is not try to solve the problems right away as a solitary approach, meaning just one approach. Maintain rotating peer-to-peer conversations, get people building awareness and commonality of each other. Then teach them a problem resolution methodology, which I'm about to teach you. At least one, is to get people to share in tables of maybe three, four people or virtual rooms and have people represent the departments one person per department and then what you do is you share a perspective. So the breakout session is you're going to now share an impression of the other three departments that are sitting at your table, what they do really well and where they have a better opportunity to improve or serve your particular department. Now, if you are one of the other three team members, you are going to write down what you've heard. You are going to write down what you've heard. Then when going to write down what you've heard, Then, when you are done, you're not going to solve it, You're not going to address solutions, and what you're doing is you're facilitating the practice of listening to cross-departmental concerns. So, if there's a table of four, you're going to have all four people share. Each of the three that are listening to the team member talk will take down what they've heard about their department. Then people disperse, go back to their departments and then there's a roundup. The roundup meeting inside the department is what did you hear in terms of perspectives of our team members? Then you get the groups back together.

Speaker 1: 2:14

This is one of the coolest things you can do. You get people back together and you actually have them share the strategies they're going to deploy based on the perceptions they've heard. Now, they're not going to address everything, but the process creates active listening. It creates a controlled environment where there's conflict and then it's a problem resolution standpoint in terms of we've heard what you've said, here's what we're going to do Now.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Here's the key to it. You have to structure the feedback, Share two things that the other departments at your table do well and then share one area where they can improve and or serve your particular department well. The reason you do this is what it does is it creates a controlled environment, but you're using language so people are comfortable communicating. Then they go back to their departments. Everybody shares the perceptions. Two or three items are chosen and the company or, excuse me, the department, is going to strategize in terms of the solutions they're going to deploy to alter those perceptions. And then you have a final meeting where everybody shares that it is one of the coolest things you can do to break down silos.