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I am currently helping two organisations. One is medium size, growing fast, and established. The other is brand new, smaller, has multiple groups, and will grow to multiples of the first one after a few years. If org 2 was created today, org 1 would just be one of its many groups.

The leaders of org 1 want to use their knowledge of the market to get a place at the table of org 2 and influence their operations. Org 2 wants to develop as its own org (but welcomes useful information from org 1).

I hated working with org 1, and I welcome org 2's development. I am having a great experience working with org 2. However I can't leave org 1 behind. For my day job, I need good relationships in both.

I want org 1 not to meddle with org 2, and I don't want org 1 in my daily business with org 2 if it's not org 1 business.

To defend org 2 and my own interests I could end up antagonising org 1. But I do need a healthy relationship with org 1.

So the question is: how do I keep pushing back on org 1's ambitions, while avoiding a breakdown in the relationship?

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    Please explain your role in both organizations. Are you an employee? A contract consultant? A "contract employee?" There seems to be a conflict of interest brewing that you need to pick a side on, and your role with each needs to be explained before we can answer. – Wesley Long Nov 14 '19 at 1:18
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    Why do you want/need to be involved in this at all? – joeqwerty Nov 14 '19 at 1:21
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    Your question as written is incredibly vague. Can you explain things that A does to B that you do not like? Can you explain your role with both A and B? Can you explain what you do for A and B? How does A even know about B and what involvement do that have? Does B let A get involved for a reason? If so, what? – Cypher Nov 14 '19 at 1:35
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    Are the two organizations related to each other, other than being "competitors"? Maybe they are groups / departments in the same company / corporation? Are they owned by the same people? Please provide as many details as you can afford, it makes a great difference. – virolino Nov 14 '19 at 5:17
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    @Monoandale we answer questions we do not solve riddles. I personally I am still confused. Does org 1 and org 2 know about your involvement in both? However in general with conflict of interests. Get out of the middle, explain to both orgs that you cant be involved in the dealings with the other org. – user180146 Nov 14 '19 at 8:01
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So the question is: how do I keep pushing back on org 1's ambitions, while avoiding a breakdown in the relationship?

Unless upper management shares your opinions, you probably won't be able to accomplish what you are asking.

You best bet would be to convince upper management that your view regarding how the two organizations should work together is correct. Then you could enlist their help in making it happen.

In a prior question, you wrote that you would be "having a meeting with senior management to discuss "working together"." That's the perfect time to convince senior management of your vision for how that should work.

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  • Thanks Joe for answering my question. This is actually a different situation - but there is still the similarity that one group wants to have full visibility into what the other is doing. – Monoandale Nov 15 '19 at 2:16
  • The growth of org 2 gave org 1 the confidence to push back that other group's request for full access, as org 2 is more closely aligned with org 1's operations. – Monoandale Nov 15 '19 at 3:08

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