Come to an agreement yourselves! – Interface management as a fine art
“Come to an agreement yourselves” is something you often hear from somewhat exasperated managers when two employees or two departments have conflicts of interest. Of course, as a manager, you take part in at least 5 Zoom calls every day and don’t have time to deal with this “kindergarten”.
Poor interface management: less turnover, but more overtime and sick days
In most cases, however, employees or departments are unable to reach an agreement because:
1. they have no authority to make a cross-team decision
2. Are afraid to make a decision themselves because of possible negative consequences. After all, you can’t always guess what the manager wants
3. Are not sure whether the manager will like the decision because the employees do not know what the manager expects of them.
Muddling through with a double loss: for the company and for the employees
Therefore, most employees “suffer” in silence, intuitively try to make the best of the situation and sleep badly at night because they do not deliver the desired results due to the suboptimal cooperation. This results in a double loss:
1. The company does not realize the turnover it could
2. The employees feel stressed and act inefficiently
Companies are losing money: practical examples
We have a very successful international SME client from northern Germany. One of his project managers is losing money because the company’s purchasing department is negotiating with suppliers in China for a very long time and according to typical German patterns. The purchasing process is delayed to such an extent that the project manager is condemned to a long period of inactivity.
I don’t know what I don’t know – Unconscious competence at management level
Most managers I have dealt with do not know what their actual management tasks are. This means that they do not adequately support employees, e.g. in interface management. And not because they don’t want to or can’t, but because they are not aware that this is a core task of a manager.
How can managers “put interfaces in order” so that “the ruble rolls“
Providing employees with resources, including in the form of a decision or the resolution of a conflict of interest, is a core task of a manager. In doing so, the superior manager of various departments must create the following:
Identify blockages or “brake blocks”
– Define framework conditions and needs of different departments and communicate them to each other (e.g. speed/security/control)
– Define common goals
– Align processes with these goals/needs
– Develop common action strategies and define communication channels
Support from the top – the top of the company is in demand
According to a study by Zenger Folkman based on big data, the performance of managers depends largely on leadership from the top of the company. This means that good leadership “from the top” is a prerequisite for good leadership at the subsequent levels.
Company owners and managing directors are therefore well advised to focus on this topic! Otherwise, there is a risk of a downward spiral of lower revenues and a flight of the best to other jobs in better companies.
