Is compromise a thing of the past? Whether it is the United States Congress or your own home, perhaps you have had the feeling that compromise has become impossible. When it seems that all progress has stopped and there is a complete stalemate, you may ask, “How did we get here?”
There is a process that can inform how we might avoid these kinds of impasses in the first place. It is an approach that can be especially valuable in the workplace and can be seen in the difference between compromise and collaboration.
When you are trying to achieve a goal by brokering a compromise, you are already in a difficult position because the nature of a compromise is subtractive. It means one party needs to give up something they want so that the other party can get something they want. This can lead to people digging in their heels and can also lead to resentment afterwards.
Collaboration, on the other hand, is additive. All the parties work together towards a common goal in an iterative give and take that in the best case scenario results in everyone being able to claim they added something to the solution. If collaboration is so great, why doesn’t everyone do this all the time? Well, some conditions need to exist to make collaboration possible:
Everyone is a partner from the beginning and not a service at the end
Not everyone in a project is going to be a true collaborator. However, if you pull someone in after the goals have already been established and the plan has already been developed, they may have less of an investment than if they were there from the beginning. A collaborator is not someone you bring into a defined project to help get work done. They are someone who gets to help decide how the work gets done in the first place.
The goals and roles are very well defined and agreed upon by all
Even when all the right stakeholders are there from the beginning, the first act of collaboration is to develop a precise, shared vision of what needs to be accomplished and how each party will contribute to realizing that vision. This is the agreement that you will refer to as disagreements arise about how to best get to that goal. The more defined and achievable that goal is, the better chance you will have at a successful collaboration.
Everyone has a commitment to communication and working through issues
Because, let’s be honest, no procedural agreement can completely eliminate differences of opinion. However, if everyone makes a good faith effort that focuses on achieving an agreed upon, concrete outcome in an atmosphere of respect and collaboration, participants have a much better chance of putting aside personal motivations in order to realize a higher goal.
If a piece of legislation is written behind closed doors, bypasses all committees, and is put to the floor for a vote without debate, the only avenue for approval is through compromises and a kind of “horse-trading.” However, in our legislatures, our homes, and in our work environments, a better way may exist. A more collaborative approach may actually cause more friction while projects are being worked on, but it can also inspire more engagement, more novel thinking, and more investment in the final outcome. So, next time you are bemoaning the gridlock in Washington and elsewhere, think about how you can act more collaboratively in your own teams.