An article on the website of the INSEAD business school tells the story of a woman who thought a colleague of hers would be open to lending her two members of his team for a four-month project. She assumed he would understand her resource constraints and the importance of the two persons for her project.
So she had a meeting with him over a coffee but was very surprised at how strongly he rejected her idea. He said his department was struggling and refused any further discussion of the topic. Let’s see what in the given situation could have been handled better.
More preparation is usually needed
You have to do some background research because you need a generally clear idea about both the objectives and constraints of your counterpart. How busy is the person and how much work does their team need to deal with? Try to uncover any conflicting objectives.
Even if you are part of the same project or team, your interests may not be the same – perhaps only because the two of you have divergent career aspirations. Thus the amount of research and preparation is very similar to what you need to do when negotiating with an external party.
Do not assume that your counterpart will be ready and willing to accept whatever you have in mind without first discussing their concerns. Your approach should be more cautious and gradual; don’t be too direct and uncompromising.
-jk-