Updated April 15, 2023
All About the Cooperation Workplace
The following article provides an online for workplace cooperation. But more often than not, managers find it hard to convince others to do things that they want. They don’t follow a framework and don’t think enough about what works and what doesn’t. So if you want to influence your subordinates to work as you want them to, here’s the deal. Follow the advice mentioned here and apply them flawlessly. Within weeks you will see that you’re able to gain the Workplace cooperation of others successfully.
The article has two sections.
- In the first section, we will discuss a few questions you must ask yourself to create a framework for gaining Workplace cooperation from others.
- In the next section, we will describe a how-to guide by using which you can implement the framework mentioned in the first section.
Let’s get started.
First section: A framework to gain the Workplace cooperation of others
As a manager, it’s your responsibility to gain the cooperation of your employees. They won’t come to you and say – ‘I’m ready for Workplace cooperation!’ If it happens, it’s one in a hundred scenarios. Thus you need to own the responsibility of making a framework that works.
To do that, you need to ask yourself a series of questions. Let’s see how you can have the Workplace cooperation of your employees with some simple tweaks.
What do you want them to do?
The first thing is to keep the first thing, the first thing. It would be best to be clear about what you want them to do. Please take out a piece of paper and write down exactly what you want them to do. Make sure you etch out every detail without missing out on anything.
Once you write down what you want them to do in-depth, divide them into smaller chunks and decide on the thing you want their Workplace cooperation for.
Make sure that whatever you want them to do is not according to your agenda. Instead you should want them to do what’s aligned with the organization’s objective. If it’s your personal goal, scratch it and write fresh.
No matter what you want them to do, it should primarily portray the importance of the organizational goals and strategies, not yours.
Why do you want them to do it?
Ambiguity isn’t valuable. You need to know exactly why you want their Workplace cooperation. Quite often than not, many managers ask their subordinates to do work that doesn’t make sense. The managers know that inherently. But still, to show authority, they do that. They don’t realize that doing this sort of thing robs trust and makes the employees resentful. And in the future, when the managers really need the employees’ workplace cooperation for a projector to execute a strategy flawlessly, they don’t get any cooperation.
So don’t be someone who uses the position of authority. Ask yourself – Is it really necessary to get Workplace cooperation from them for the project? If yes, write down at least 5 reasons. The reasons can be anything like –
- The project is very complex and needs at least 10 people to work on it at the same time.
- The project needs the expertise of the employees.
- You can’t directly supervise them because you have other things to do.
- The project has a strict deadline.
- You want to delegate the work to your employees so that you can concentrate on the most important thing.
What’s in it for them?
Do you know what the best secret of selling anything is? It’s to ensure that people know what they will get because of the selling.
Let’s get specific. In copywriting, those copywriters sell the most who know how to convey what’s in it for the customers. So to gain the Workplace cooperation of others, you need to articulate what they will get when they cooperate with you.
So you need to write down everything in detail about what their Workplace cooperation will offer them. Will it give them more compensation? Will it add value to their career? Do they enhance their competence? Would they improve their possibility of a promotion?
No matter what it is, you need to convey it to them that their Workplace cooperation will actually help them get better.
And they will listen and act as you want them to.
How will they do it?
Most managers will tell their subordinates what to do, not at all how to do it. But if you want to gain their Workplace cooperation, you need to ensure that they know how things should be done.
The best approach is to design an internal training session where you will tell them exactly how to work toward achieving the common organizational goal.
Design the training. Add a few games in between and ensure the training duration is short. You need to sell them the process of what you want their Workplace cooperation for.
What possible resources do you have to help them succeed?
Telling them how to do the thing is not enough. You also need to think about what resources are available that they can use to complete the project/task at hand successfully.
Resources include funding, materials, support activities, and even open-door communication from you. Always be ready to help them if they need any assistance during their task completion. Remember, everything matters. How you treat them will go a long way for any future projects you may want their Workplace cooperation for.
Structuring the whole thing of workplace cooperation
You need to structure the above questions in a proper framework to use them for future projects. Use the following guidelines.
- Write down everything on a single piece of paper or sheet. The answers to the above five questions should be in one place to help you make a proper framework.
- Workplace cooperation will depend on the clarity of your vision. So, if you’ve scribbled and are not sure about the clarity of the whole document, read the whole thing, find out what you can’t comprehend, and make amends.
- Take a fresh piece of paper and write a simple structure from the original document.
- Try to visualize how you would do the whole thing and see in your mind that you’re gaining their Workplace cooperation in the whole process.
Second section: A how-to guide
This section will help you implement the things you have planned for. This part is hard. But if you follow the steps below, you will gain their cooperation in the workplace without any hassle.
- Just start: Don’t worry about how the whole thing will go. Arrange a meeting where everyone will be asked to join, and you tell them your plans. See the resistances (if any), but keep sharing your vision.
- Ask them to make a questionnaire: After delivering your plans to them, ask them to jointly make a questionnaire that will include everything they’ve in their mind for the upcoming project. Ask for their cooperation in the workplace.
- Focus on commonalities: The best way to gain cooperation in a workplace from anyone is to first talk about the commonalities between you and them. Talk about the common objective you would like to achieve. Talk about the success you’ve recently had while handling the earlier project where everyone performed equally well. Be creative. You need to find ways to gain their cooperation.
The above is the way you should start and try to gain access to their cooperation in the workplace initially. Now you need to concentrate on the framework you’ve already made. You need to implement them. But first, deal with the questionnaire you’ve asked them to prepare.
- Deal with the questionnaire: Look at the questionnaire. Can you answer them all? If yes, write down all your answers and then give a short presentation on the queries of your team. If you can’t answer all, pick them out and do a brainstorming session. Ask them to come up with ideas to solve particular queries that no one knows about. They select the best alternative.
- Motivation time: Once this part is done, now you need to tell them why you need their cooperation. This is the time when you need to motivate them to listen. You will only gain their cooperation when they’re motivated enough.
- What’s in it for them: If they don’t feel motivated enough, ask them what is making them resistant. There can be one or two things they may get concerned about. You need to present what’s in it for them now. Tell them exactly what they will get out of it if they cooperate. If they get motivated and agree to cooperate, then you can go to the next step. Otherwise, go for designing a sensitivity training which will help them understand the whole scenario, and as a result, you will be able to gain their cooperation.
- Tell them how: This is one of the most important parts of the whole process. While trying to gain their cooperation, they forget to guide employees about how to do the work. As a result, even after gaining cooperation, the project fails to achieve its deliverables. As per the structure, tell them step by step about how to start the process, meet the ends, and finish. Promise them to be there whenever they need you. For that, an essential part is to create an open-door policy. Also, create an automatic feedback system that will allow you to control the whole process and not worry about course corrections later.
- Provide resources: Before assigning them any help, ensure you have your budget calculated. Once you assign the resources, you can’t take them back. So be prudent and assign resources according to the constraints of the project. If you maintain transparency, you will gain the cooperation of your employees.
Final analysis of Workplace cooperation
You may wonder why we have etched out the entire process from beginning to completion in this article. The reason is gaining cooperation is not a quick fix. It’s a process and sometimes very long. So only talking about a few things will not gain cooperation at the workplace. It would be best if you did the whole thing again and again and again.
Finally, it should be mentioned that there are mainly three elements in gaining cooperation at the workplace. Let’s look at them briefly.
- Trust: If you want to gain the cooperation of others, the common thread between you and them should be a relationship of trust. If they don’t trust you, then by no means can you gain their cooperation. But how to build trust? You need to follow the above steps as a guide to ensure trust. The only thing you need to make sure that they should know is that you are always thinking about their well-being and not exploiting them because of your authority or position. Suppose you can ensure that their trust and gaining their cooperation is just a byproduct.
- Integrity: Gaining cooperation depends on the integrity of the manager. You are in an illusion if you think you can do something wrong, and they will not notice. Remember, they observe everything and know everything that you do. If you keep your word, flawlessly execute what you preach, and take responsibility for your mistakes, they will notice and will silently value you. Thus, when you need to have their cooperation, they’ll be ready and willing.
- Treatment: How you treat an employee says a lot about you. If you treat them with dignity, you will receive it back; if you don’t, you will get it back too. Behavior begets behavior. If you want to have the cooperation of your employees, make sure that you always treat them with dignity. When an employee does a mistake, instead of scolding him/her in front of everyone, call them into your cabin and ask him/her about what issues s/he is facing. Then resolve to solve the problem. Your treatment ensures whether you will gain their cooperation or not.
This is a comprehensive guide to gaining cooperation in the workplace of others. If you follow the advice mentioned here, gaining cooperation from your employees or subordinates will become significantly easier. Do you not know where to start? Pick up any advice from here and start. Once you start, you will eventually figure it out.
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