A Fortune 100 company was developing a first-to-market, leading edge technology service that had been incubated in an almost isolated portion of the organization.  Massive resources were made available to this group, which caused jealousy in other parts of the company.

The organization decided that it was time for the division undertaking the development of this service to be functionally integrated to the rest of the company.

Conflict:
In the process of integration, long hours were being logged by employees, with requests made to work holidays and vacation. This caused internal conflict for a Director who was centrally involved in the project. The work and corporate demands created a clash of viewpoints and values as to how employees should be treated and managed.

In parallel, the external conflict was his specific team requiring the cooperation and coordination from the larger organization with which they were re-integrating. This was made even more difficult by the perception that this group was “the Golden Child” of the company. This distinction was creating a culturally internally competitive situation resulting in a lack of inclusion, dictatorship style approaches, and breakdowns in terms of cooperation or coordination.

Resolution:
Lidia was asked by the Director to help him sort through these conflicts. She suggested that a way to relieve the perception that the company was uncaring was for him to personally reach out to the families of his employees to thank them for the sacrifice and contribution they were making to the success of the project and their spouses’ careers.

In examining the external conflicts, the Director strategized with Lidia about how to include both the new and old organizations in all planning and decisions, and in a spirit of mutual respect.

Conclusion:
The families of the employees responded with a strong show of appreciation. His team felt better because their families received the recognition that was lacking, and provided increased emotional support for their spouses relieving some of the pressure that the employees were facing.

The Director’s inclusiveness with other teams was successful and the organization at large recognized the cooperation that this group received, which exceeded that received by other divisions towards integrating the functions in a timely manner. Due to his leadership, this Director was then recognized as “high potential” within the larger organization.

Lidia’s coaching of this leader helped him to find productive strategies to encourage collaboration with other teams within the larger organization. In addition, Lidia’s suggestion of how he could impact the morale of his staff and their families proved to be extremely successful.