Executive presentation overview and best practices

¶ … Difficult Internal Client

Situational Analysis

Organizational efficiency depends substantially on the ability of all departments, business units, and individual personnel to collaborate effectively toward a common goal. When personality conflicts and the idiosyncrasies of particular team members threaten to interfere with optimal operational efficiency, the entire organization potentially suffers. Therefore, it is necessary for management to establish mechanisms, protocols, and procedures for negotiating around potential barriers posed threats to efficient collaboration and to optimal internal communications.

Statement of Goals and Objectives

The fundamental purpose of this presentation is to outline a method for addressing the potential difficulties posed by difficult internal clients. Ideally, that entails identifying the potential problem in advance before it materializes and manifests itself in operational inefficiency, developing an approach for minimizing any difficulties, and executing that approach successfully. The ultimate goal is to mitigate the potential cost in time, achievement in operational goals, and in human relationships among and between all parties involved.

Strategy

The first task is to recognize situations where the overall value that an entity (whether a department, a business unit, or a specific individual) brings to the organization. In many situations, organizational cultural differences exist among and between different entities within the same organization. While it is obviously preferable for all organizational components to share the same culture, that is simply not always possible to achieve, especially where the fundamental nature of specific responsibilities and tasks differ substantially. In those situations, it behooves the entire organization for every component to maintain a situational awareness of the culture and challenges that predominate within other business components. In many cases, internal conflict can be avoided simply by virtue of demonstrating awareness of and respect for the constraints and preferences of others in the work place. As a general rule in that regard, it is helpful for team members (and business units) to consult with one another to benefit from previous experiences with potentially difficult internal clients.

The second task is to maintain a communication channel through which inquiries about availability and other considerations such as conflicting deadlines and responsibilities can be made in advance of formal requests for assistance or the issuance of formal assignments. In many cases, potential conflicts can be avoided this way because the effort demonstrates respect for the other entity and allows that entity to respond without any negative reaction or assumptions (whether real or imagined) about respect for the entity involved. For example, a temperamental individual who is already stressed might typically respond negatively to receiving an assignment with a deadline. However, the same individual will typically respond much more positively to an advance communication that inquires into his or her possible availability to assist with a project that demonstrates awareness that the individual might already be fully committed during a particular time period.