Turning “Accidental Adversaries” into Allies

Strategic leaders know that when teams share information and work together, the company as a whole is able to win more customers, fend off competitors, reduce costs, and increase agility. 

Yet in practice, teams naturally lean toward going it alone. As organizations become more global, virtual, and complex, it takes more work for teams to stay in sync and to act as one company in their relationships with customers, suppliers, regulators, and other stakeholders. And when people are interacting at high speeds via digital tools, it becomes all the more difficult for them to detect the unintended negative side effects of their actions — and makes it all the easier to default to distrust. This degradation of collaborative efforts creates “accidental adversaries” who unintentionally undermine each other’s progress and the company’s ability to achieve its larger goals. 

How do you turn accidental adversaries back into allies?

In this post on strategy+business, Turning “Accidental Adversaries” into Allies, I offer a few suggested strategies. 

See what you think! 

And, if accidental adversaries are undermining your company’s strategic goals, please drop me a note and we can discuss your options and next steps. 

Thanks and all the best,

Elizabeth Doty