If you can create Win-Win situations in all areas, there is no limit to the success that can be achieved.
When we create win-win scenarios this means that everyone is aligned; everyone is aiming for the same goal; and everyone one benefits once when the goal is achieved.
We need to be able to create win-win scenarios between:
For our staff, this can often be achieved through reward and recognition, when the teams achieve the desired goal and they are reward or recognized. This creates alignment between the Leader and the organization.
For our suppliers, this can be difficult, as we often have different conflicting goals, for example, their goal is to maximize revenue, and our goal is to get the job done for the lowest price possible.
We should still be able to create win-win scenarios through strategic partnerships with the promise of additional business or bonuses once the goals are achieved; or gain share models, e.g. they receive a percentage of any costs saving or revenue increases that they help deliver.
For our business partners/customers this should the easiest part, we deliver business benefit or added value, we receive reward and recognition.
In most of the companies I have worked in, it’s the alignment here that has actually been the most difficult to achieve. Either IT didn’t understand the full business requirements, were developing IT systems than benefited IT, or their was a lack of trust between the parties which stopped alignment from being achieved.
To create win-win scenarios we often need to compromise on our objectives.
It’s not always possible for everyone to achieve 100% of their objectives and still create win-win, for someone to achieve 100% then someone usually has to lose.
For example, with strategic partners, as I said previously, their goal is to maximize revenue whereas ours goal is to get the job done for the lowest price. These are two conflicting goals; we cannot both achieve 100% and still have win-win.
Our egos, and our desire to achieve 100% of our goal, can often lead to us creating win-lose scenarios. Yes we get the job done for the lowest possible price, but this can impact the quality of the work done, or the relationship with the partner which means that when they are in the driving seat they will create a lose-win scenario in order to regain what they lost in the first deal.
Often when you end up in a win-lose scenario it ultimately ends up in lose-lose situation, which is another reason we should focus on looking for win-win.
Everyone knows that good teamwork; with everyone aligned and focused on the same goal is the best way to achieve that goal. But when we have different groups, organizations or companies involved in the overall team then we need to create these win-win-win scenarios in order to maximize our chances of success.
To create win-win-win scenarios we often need to be flexible, creative and open to compromise, we need to focus on creating win-win-win, rather than just win.
With the move toward more global matrixed organizations, with shared service centers and multi sourcing options, become more and more prevalent, the ability to be able to create these complex win-win-win scenarios is going to become more valuable.
If we can create win-win-win scenarios there is no limit to what we can achieve!
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