Cross-Team Collaboration
We’ve all experienced group to group tension where unhealthy competition or silo thinking prevails. This could be marketing vs. sales, mergers and acquisitions, remote versus in-office teams. The environment can also result from mergers, downsizing, or reengineering. Regardless of the cause trust between group needing to collaboration is replaced with suspicion, judgment, even resentment.
No one wants to work like this. Unresolved conflict in the workplace has a significant impact. The cost to relationships and morale are obvious but the measurable costs can also be severe including
- Gallup Study: U.S. companies lose an estimated $359 billion annually due to workplace conflict in terms of lost productivity and wasted time.
- Turnover Costs: SHRM estimates that replacing an employee costs about 33% of their annual salary.
- Absenteeism: Conflict-related stress increases absenteeism, which costs employers $3,600 annually per hourly employee and $2,650 per salaried employee.
Grid provides a process hailed by Harvard Business Journal in an article and later a collection on conflict. The process brings groups shared understanding and a “going forward” collaboration model. The process is objective and allows people to express themselves honestly and openly, especially regarding issues fraught with historical or anticipated conflict. Trust grows and people look for ways collaborate and create synergy.