Posted by chris on September 1st, 2010 | No Comments »

What kind of person are you: Competitive? Big-picture thinker? Assertive? Conciliator? Other?
Such tags tend to promise clarity, but bring in a bundle of behaviours and attitudes that may or may not relate. When these words find themselves describing quadrants or supporting wider groupings on a personality test, you almost need a glossary to explain the context (and the particular bundle).

I run into this with my working descriptions for negotiation strategies.
A couple of semantic challenges are:

- Even if you are not “a competitive person,” you can still pick a strategy of “competing” in a certain situation;

- It can make strategic business sense to “accommodate” the needs of others and you don’t have to be weak-kneed to do it;

- Collaborating with a party does not mean agreeing with them all the time, and you don’t have to be “nice” to do it.

    I will suggest that collaboration is a default for supply chain initiatives, given that the relationships (internal and external) have to be maintained over a period of time and that, in today’s competitive (semantics again!) environment, there is no room for compromising the returns on time and dollars spent.

    So do you have to collaborate all the time on everything? Not at all.

    Before giving you the model, let me give you this:
    Glossary of Terms

    Information: Results, data, examples and findings that may help in determining a superior course of action.

    Expertise: Orientation, experience and training that enable one to see relevant implications of a decision prior to its implementation.

    Authority: Structural or informal power to direct the actions of others, coupled with accountability for the consequences of a decision.

      If you have all three, there is no need to collaborate. Why would you? You have all the information you need, you know what is important for the decision, and your sphere of responsibility allows you to “make the call.”

      This doesn’t mean that you have to be obvious about “going it alone,” but engaging others would be strictly for relationship-building. You will decide if this is worth the effort.

      Tune in next month for an elaboration on what to do when you have “two out of three” (which “ain’t bad,” according to Meatloaf).

      THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE AUGUST NEWSLETTER FOR THE CANADIAN SUPPLY CHAIN SECTOR COUNCIL.

       

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