Your interconnective infrastructure is the framework that facilitates interpersonal and other work relationships. It is important to realize that it doesn’t only encompass interpersonal relationships, it also incorporates your communication channels, organizational structure, policies, procedures, and strategy. As a leader, it is important to be able to identify and facilitate your interconnective infrastructure because it is the glue that holds your team together, either facilitating unhealthy cultures or positive ones propelled by authentic, respectful interactions founded on skills that shape and sustain trust.
How to Design Your Interconnective Infrastructure:
The leadership skills of attuning to and designing your interconnective infrastructure are central to your team’s success. When leaders are aware of how team members relate within their respective ecosystems, they can use this information to facilitate these connections in ways that beneficially affect performance, both individually and collectively. Here are four ways you can construct, or reinforce interconnective infrastructures within your teams and networks:
Develop Authentic Relationships: When managers are authentic, trust is something they conscientiously maintain. They know healthy work relationships operate as resources, opening doors to opportunities for collaboration, dialogue, creativity, and mutually beneficial network growth. Managers who purposefully contribute to trust-based environments tend to use three essential competencies: Integrity, emotional mastery, and a connective, “We” disposition.
Establish a Robust Communication Framework: Trust-based relationships are built on effective communication practices like: using empathy appropriately, active listening, facilitating high performing meetings, and knowing when to initiate multi-stakeholder conversations. Once you implement structures that facilitate effective communication, you can monitor and assess the efficacy of these channels.
Design your Organizational Structure: As a manager, it’s important to take a close look at how your organizational chart affects the performance of your team. You also need to understand how your policies, procedures and other structures impact your success. By taking these steps you can identify how political dynamics enable or inhibit innovation and performance, especially when ambiguity, complexity, and constant change are features of your workplace reality.
Keep your Ecosystem in Balance as you Execute Strategy: Your organizational ecosystem is a constantly adapting system, creating dynamic tensions caused by shifts in internal and external environments. With this understanding, it is important to recognize that as you lead, you should first focus on identifying your most risky tensions and then take deliberate steps toward bringing your ecosystem into balance.
The Keys to Successful Implementation
Your entire interconnective infrastructure can be strengthened with trust, shared core values, and authentic relationships in place. However, strengthening the quality of your team and network of relationships is not enough. One reason for this is because you can have great relationships and weak communication practices that undermine productivity. Instead, you should ensure your interconnective infrastructure is also comprised of a well-structured relationship network and a healthy communication framework complemented by policies and other structures that enhance creativity, and performance.
With knowledge gained from almost 40 years of Fortune 500 and international consulting experience, Yvette shares her rich experience and proprietary model for changing businesses from the inside out. She is a thought leader in the areas of trust, leadership and organizational ecosystems, a multiple award-winning author and cultural consultant.
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