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of your comments deal with relationships vs. the issue to be addressed? Mentally rehearse for worst-
case scenarios/hard-to-deal-with people. Anticipate what the person might say and have responses
prepared so as not to be caught off guard. Tend to think battle and justification? Think resolution and
progress instead. Collaboration isn’t caving to others’ opinions. Rather, know where you stand and be
able to communicate your perspective and needs in a direct, concise, and clear manner. Support your
viewpoint with specific background and explanation. Tie your views back to the organizational goals
and priorities. Focus on solving the problem rather than winning the argument.

13. Are you taking all the credit? Pass along the praise. When others have helped you achieve a
goal, share the credit both privately and publically. Tell others about cross-organizational
collaboration. Talk about it with your team. With your boss. With your peers. When collaboration
works, celebrate it. Show appreciation for the work of others. The more you talk about collaboration,
the more people see its benefits. This helps generate more teamwork in the future. Celebrate
accomplishments with your collaborators. Go out for lunch. Bring in dessert. Write personal thank you
notes. Make sure that people know that you appreciate their work. When people feel recognized and
feel that their contributions were noted, they are much more likely to want to work with you again in
the future.

Want to learn more? Take a deep dive…
Ashkenas, R. (2011, August 2). Learning not to compete. Harvard Business Review Blog Network.

Frost, S. (n.d.). How to cooperate as a team member in a workplace. Chron.
Lipman, V. (2013, February 9). In praise of praise. Forbes.
Mind Tools. (n.d.). Managing your emotions at work: Controlling your feelings…before they control
you. Mind Tools.

Job assignments
• Work on a project with someone you’ve disagreed with in the past so you can practice give-and-take
dialogue, working through conflict, and finding shared goals and values.
• Volunteer to make a presentation on a group project. Ask everyone who participated on the project to
help with the presentation and then debrief the situation after you are done.
• Resolve an issue in conflict between two people, units, geographies, functions. Help them share their
perspectives, build understanding, and bring the issue to resolution.
• Manage a cost-cutting exercise or a project where there are various perspectives and inherent conflict,
where you need to solve the problem and keep all parties satisfied.
• Take on a project that is too large for one person and requires cross-organizational collaboration in
order to achieve results and solve the problem.

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