Win-Win Project Management
by David G. Jensen, Search Masters International
Promotions come to the best project managers in biotech companies around the world. Every year, directorships go to those few managers who have demonstrated the ability to get things done in their organizations.
We have all noticed that two very talented people, each managing a project, can achieve two far different results. We see examples all the time. This difference in project management ability has a good deal to do with how each employee manages personal relationships with others. In particular, it has a great deal to do with the way they influence peers outside those clear lines of authority present in hierarchical companies.
In Influence Without Authority (1) Allan Cohen and David Bradford put a unique perspective on a process that powerful people have been using for thousands of years to get things done. What those authors call the "Law of Reciprocity" is the almost universal belief that people should be paid back for what they do. One way to put it is the familiar "one good turn deserves another." Sounds simple enough.
Despite its logic and the apparent ease of applying this "win-win" tool, many people stumble when attempting to implement it. They come across as manipulative or insincere, which can be devastating to work relationships -- especially among biotech research scientists. With their analytical nature, they particularly value straight-forward input. Any obvious attempt to involve them in someone else's personal gain generally backfires. That obviously has major repercussions that can undermine efforts to get things done.
Here, I advance the notion that everyone in your company should be aware of and regularly practicing the Law of Reciprocity -- for good and legitimate reasons. Even if you have not been designated a project team manager, you still need to recognize the three levels in which you can use influence to advance your work and your career.
Biotech companies, in most cases, have flat organizations with a lot of emphasis on "matrix" project management. Even in the flattest companies, however, some people are on a higher level than you are (your boss is one of these), some are on your level (your peers and colleagues), and some may fall directly under you (your subordinates) or under other supervisors. You need to be able to influence others in all directions: upward, sideways, and downward. Although you may use of the Law of Reciprocity in a number of directions, the basic principles are the same.
Getting Started
Michelle is a project manager for early stage products at a major biotechnology company. Part of her job is to deal with contract labs for certain types of safety testing. She has had increasing problems getting the response time she needs from these laboratories.
Recently, Michelle discovered that a key series of tests would not be available until more than three months later than she had anticipated. This was a particularly frustrating situation because she knew that another department of her own company had developed similar assays for other purposes. If she could have those assays adapted to her needs, she could save time and money. At a glance, getting her needs pushed ahead of Bill's (the other department manager) goals might seem to be impossible. But Michelle thought about what she might offer Bill in return for his cooperation.
Michelle and others in her company regularly receive requests from fellow employees who seek cooperation without an immediate "payback." Complying with such requests is considered just a part of the job. However, this time she needed collaboration above and beyond the call of duty for Bill's department. To reach her goal, she needed "currency"--some form of payback.
Her experience with the Law of Reciprocity had taught her that, in this case. she couldn't ask Bill to simply trust her to make it up to him. A vague promise for the indefinite future wouldn't do. She needed to give him a clear vision of what he could achieve by rearranging his priorities. And she had to present it expertly, giving careful thought to what would matter most to Bill. She had to think it through from his viewpoint.
Successful Collaboration
A win-win relationship with your colleagues involves four essential ingredients: mutual respect, openness, trust, and mutual benefit. The right mix can ensure your ability to exert a positive influence on others, even without the direct authority to involve them.
Mutual respect. It is impossible to get anything done through someone else without mutual respect between you. Assume that your colleagues are intelligent and deserve your respect. In the example presented here, Michelle and Bill were on the same level, although Bill ran a lab and had a higher "head count" than Michelle. They had known each other for several years and had mutual respect, but not a close working relationship.
Openness. Keep your program on the table, and be straight-forward in your presentation of the facts. It's unlikely you'll get anything done through others when they feel you have a hidden agenda. Michelle, for example, had to consider exactly what advantages and disadvantages Bill would see in her request for assistance. Had he believed she was hiding something, he might have perceived her as manipulative or simply as seeking personal gain.
Trust. To properly employ the Law of Reciprocity, you must be in a trusting relationship. If a colleague made a special request for your help today, you wouldn't hesitate if you knew that colleague would pay you back for the extra effort tomorrow. Although Bill and Michelle had not been allies before, they had taken the first important step toward developing a new ally: They had established an atmosphere of trust.
Mutual benefit. Successful collaborators --internal (employee-employee) and external (company-company)--have a well-defined mutual benefit. The benefit to Michelle from Bill's cooperation was evident. But Bill's benefit required a difficult thought process. She had to look at the situation from his perspective. She persisted until she found the solution.
A Win-Win Outcome
Michelle approached Bill with two kinds of "currency" she had previously found effective. First, she offered him a solid personal benefit: If he would reorganize his priorities and temporarily assign one of his PhDs to fine-tune the assay she needed, she would share the spotlight with him when the projected was successful -- on time and under budget.
Second, she arranged through her boss to compensate Bill's department for the cost of cooperating. An interdepartmental billing was set up so Michelle's project budget could pay Bill's lab for the time involved. This assured Bill that his department would bear no burden of increased overhead. And it also limited the reasons he might refuse to some inconvenience on another deadline.
Their cooperation made a major contribution to their company. For the first time, it took one of its new product candidates into clinicals on time and under budget. Other projects had taken months longer than expected and had tremendous budget overruns. To celebrate such a refreshing change for the company, the CEO arranged a Friday afternoon champagne meeting to recognize the two major players, Michelle and Bill, and their teams. As Michelle thought about the previous months and the way things worked out, she recognized that the Law of Reciprocity had once again played a major role in her success. And Bill got a piece of the corporate glory -- which had been almost assured because Michelle had the materials so far along before she approached him. His trust that she'd make it up to him down the road paid off. With their new status as allies, they would both move up a step on the corporate ladder before the next major project came along.
Author:
Dave Jensen
500 Foothills South, Suite 2
Sedona, AZ 86336
To reach Search Masters International, contact
career@searchmastersinternational.com
(630) 663-9140
Contact the author for reprint permission:
david_g_jensen@yahoo.com
Reference:
( 1. ) Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford. Influence without Authority, (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990).