When your position on the org chart doesn’t give you the role power to have someone do something for you, you must rely on your influence or your relationship to foster collaboration.
When you became a new manager, you entered a new arena where, more than ever, you’ll need the support of peers and members of other departments – people who don’t report to you, people over whom you have no role power. You’ll need voluntary collaboration.
In the world of business, building relationships and influence through collaboration uses a unique form of currency: the granting of favors.
But it’s a weird kind of currency. Here are a few tips when exchanging favors to foster collaboration:
👉 Value is rarely balanced. Your favor can often create far more value for the other person than it costs you to perform it. The opposite can also be true.
👉 It’s better to decline to do a favor than to commit and not follow through, or to do it and resent the person who asked. This is especially true if the cost to you is greater than the value it would create for the other person.
👉 If you are using your position, or role power, to compel a direct report to do something, you’re not asking for a favor. Don’t call it one. If it’s really a favor, make it clear that they can decline with no consequences or hard feelings.
👉 When you give a favor, the balance of value will often be paid back by someone else. If you’re the kind of person who must keep track of things, track your “payable” favors, but not your “receivable” ones.
👉 Many people don’t enjoy the feeling of owing favors. Sometimes graciously asking for a favor can be as much of a gift as granting one.
As you grow your role and expand your circle of influence, give special attention to how you mine the wealth of favors. Give as freely as you can afford to give, and invest with the currency of collaboration in your new relationships.
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