Enterprise Design Patterns | Impact Patterns
#7: Safe Negotiation Space
“Everything is negotiable. Whether or not the negotiation is easy is another thing.”
- Carrie Fisher
Related Patterns:
#3: Coalition Building, #12: Human Interest, #13: Nurtured Trust, #28: Human Language, #33: Beauty
You need the diverse viewpoints of co-creators from different parts of the enterprise to be aligned with each other and with the overall Enterprise Design.
In this context:
The viewpoints of diverse co-creators can become obstacles to implementing a holistically designed enterprise. Managers’ interests need to be aligned with the interests of designers, architects and engineers. Interests of customer-facing parts of the enterprise need to be aligned with back-office parts. Interests of disciplines close to customer value (like UX designers) must be negotiated with disciplines closer to feasibility (like software architects). What benefits one group may limit others.
Therefore:
You open a safe negotiation space to bring together the perspectives of different co-creators. This negotiation space enables structured, well-facilitated communications. You moderate hard negotiations about the content of work and decisions, while staying soft, polite, kind and forgiving to the people involved. When you create this space, you make sure to:
- Invite the right mix of people (various roles, positions, gender, expertise...);
- Make the space safe (simple behavioural rules, good facilitation);
- Co-create a picture of the shared understanding, and make it visible for everyone;
- Use non-formal models and resist the urge to be 100% correct.
Consequently:
Discussions and decisions are based on a shared understanding of the overall enterprise purpose, goals and capabilities. Seemingly conflicting positions and perspectives are aligned to better support the evolution of the overall enterprise. Co-creators collaborate and contribute rather than become stuck in fighting personal battles and defining local benefits only.