In the meeting room，wearing grey sweater，I sat among some strangers.They looked at me, polite and detached，seemed to say: “Who are you?”
Two months ago I was assigned to hold an annual party for 6 departments- finance and auditand so on, served for about 100 people. The funny thing was that I worked in none of the 6 departments, almost knew nothing about them, and they haven’t connected for a party like this before.
In the whole process I met with many difficulties. For example, I assigned all the work to my teammates but they didn’t finish it 100%, it was hard to blame because they were busy with daily work. So I have to fill the loopholes myself.Besides, I want to go through a full dress rehearsal the day but some playersdidn’t show up on time.
The good news is that in general the party was successful, even beyond my expectation.
But after that I just couldn’t stop thinking:How to communicate and collaborate with people from different functions? Like how to balance relations between producers and sales , product managers and programmers? We could see complaints or Tu cao (吐槽) everywhere.
There is 2 words to describe it-horizontal relations.
Why couldn’t people handle horizontal relations? In part because our ”expert”culture- We are trained to be experts, to handle everything with our talent and knowledge alone. We are trained to leave those who dislike us and stay with our own kind . But it doesn’t work in workplace. We cannot achieve our purpose without other functions’ support.
So how to handle horizontal relations in your company? I read some study and now I amready to share the methods to you.
Step 1: Set the goal
It sounds funny but true. What do I do? What is my position? What are my long-term goals?What is my goal for this month, for this week? We must be more targeted because our tasks often changes, but goals not.
For instance, as a project manager, I have 1 month to hold a cheerful annual party for 100 strangers.
Step2: List all the interested parties
Whose cooperation is essential if I want to achieve my goal? If there is some one resist me, who are they and for what? Write down and analyze it.
Back to the party, I divided my "clients" into 3 groups:
The head of department- Clarify bosses’ attitude and get approval in key factors like theme, place, money etc.
Organization team- Push organization team to perform their own duties.
Average audience-Satisfy their general need: Good banquet hall, simple traffic anddressing instructions, delicious food, funny program, good photos and big redpackets!
Step3: Try to establish a good personal relationship
Believe me it is the most difficult part. After all I am not RMB, I could not make everyone like me. But remember one word- respect. Respect is not equal to compliment, it is more like concern.
When meet those strangers for the 1st time, to be kind and stable, remember all their names, quick to praise their good points, especially do not make jokes or have fun of others to show off yourselves.
After that, set apart of time to talk with interested parties , keep smiling andlisten to them, even bring them some thoughtful gifts . Here is another example, The 1st month I join my new company, I visited 3 business units in another city in one day and talk with the point persons, try to make friends with each of them in 1hour.
It may be hard to those truly busy people, but there is still some ways. I read a story, Rockefeller the Oil magnate, when he flied to a strange city for business, he must meet hundreds of key people. And his secretary would provide all those people’ssituation and conversation topics so that Rockefeller could read it on hisprivate aircraft.
Step 4 Care about the opponent
If some people just don’t like you for no reason- It often happens- and unfortunately they have a influence on the whole things. You still need to handle that. Don’t be the one who cause the fight and go around obstacles.
For example, you could use the person they respect to influence the decision,usually their boss or opinion leaders.
For me, The success of the party partly comes from my excellent host and hostess, they arerespectable at work , and at the party, they created a funny and happy atmosphereand ask lots of red packets for audience.
To sum up, it is not easy to handle horizontal relations. But if you want to be an effective communicator and cooperator , try this 4 steps: set the goal, list all the interested parties, try to establish a good personal relationship, and care about the opponent.
If you are interested in this topic, I recommend 2 books:Power and Influence, and How to win friends and influence people.Discussion is also welcome.
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