Economy & Credit Chest

Of course in some situations it may not be practical or wise to involve everyone in the internal assessment from the start. One strategy I use is to involve different groups at different stages. You may start with key leadership and then, once you have their commitment, begin to move down the organization. As you assess various areas of the organization, you begin to involve those people in the assessment. As you do, be sure to communicate clearly the purpose and scope of the assessment to alleviate fears.

While you may not be able to involve everyone, it’s essential to communicate information about the assessment to people inside the organization. Tell them what you know, what you are doing, and why. Be as honest and open as you can. It’s a great first step in moving along the Partnership Continuum and increasing your Partnering Intelligence.

One way of appraising competing options is to look at the desired outcome and then see which option will achieve it. This simple approach is often complicated by the need to prioritise goals, reduce costs or minimise risk, and in selecting the best option usually involves trade-offs and compromise. Another approach is to establish criteria for the final decision – for example, it needs to work quickly, not be expensive, take a reasonable amount of time to organise and so forth – and then score each option against these components on a scale of 1–10. The highest-scoring option wins. With both approaches, you need to fully understand what each option requires, how it works and what it achieves.

Many people have trouble in coming up with new ideas or solutions to a problem. The answer often lies in fostering innovation, by creating the right conditions to be innovative or simply to see the best way forward. If this is to work and be sustainable, the climate for decision-making must be as positive, open and encouraging as possible. Linked with this is the need for people to feel valued. If they do not, there is a risk that they will be negative about the change, reactive rather than proactive.

Or they may decide to leave. One way of fostering innovation is to encourage employees to question the way things are done or decisions that have been made. Removing or minimising barriers (such as bureaucracy and hierarchy) can drive innovation, and so can an ability to exert mild pressure, perhaps by setting deadlines. Techniques that help spur creativity and innovation include brainstorming and mind mapping, as they help individuals to come up with ideas and to see patterns or organise information in such a way that patterns and ideas develop.