Peer relationships outside of the immediate team are complex. Some peers will go out of their way to help when they can, while others view their organizational colleagues as competitors who diminish their share of resources and rewards. Some are friendly and lend a hand if asked, while others offer assistance only when there is something in it for them.
Influencing without authority, as it is often called, remains a frustrating and perplexing reality of organizational life. And it’s not going away. So, having a sound strategy to encourage peers and distant colleagues to collaborate is both smart and necessary.
As a rule, peers are busy with their own work and are reluctant to offer assistance when they don’t have to. When faced with a request to collaborate or lend a hand, peers typically have a central question in the back of their minds: What’s in it for me?Of the many assets and selling points that might pry a colleague toward collaboration, perhaps none is more attractive than critical information.
Information can be insightful, interesting, actionable, informative, and helpful. Most leaders and team members are sitting on a gold mine of information useful to their peers across the organization. Collecting, summarizing, and presenting it may sound like a burden, but it is the fuel that drives the engine of peer collaboration.
Finding and sharing information with peers before you need them is the essential move. Keeping them on a steady diet of information valuable to them before any requests or needs arise sets the stage and develops a stronger relationship.
Then, when the time comes, peers are more likely to lend a hand because they know you didn’t have to keep them so well-informed. Reciprocity is a powerful human motivator and peers are not immune to it.
The best leaders and team members feed peers the information they need, want, and crave. They go out of their way to create metrics, uncover data, provide updates, and summarize trends they suspect their peers will value. In so doing, they prime the pump of goodwill.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
