Cross functional team harmony - part 1

Drew Stevens

Imagine a time when you worked for an organization where everyone collaborated, communicated effectively and organizational politics did not exist. Do you remember that? Probably not! This is especially true when you lead a team that does not report directly to you. There are many reasons why individuals on cross-functional teams work well and reasons why they don’t. The fact is that no matter the organization, individuals must get along and must communicate. The reasons are simple:

1. People must connect so that the organization can produce its products and services and meet the customer’s need.
2. Individuals must collaborate to complete special projects.
3. Individuals must collaborate to provide resources that focus on revenue and meeting shareholder responsibility.

What is necessary to understand is the worker collaboration is important to productivity? Productive institutions work more efficiently, return higher profits and actually have a more satisfied workforce. Yet many organizations pay little heed to the issue. So you might be asking if this is so important why then are organizations not doing more about this issue?

• Some organizations and their managers are simply too busy
• Some organizations and their staff are not aware that an issue exists
• Some actually do not like to spend huge amounts of money.
•  And…
  •             The most amazing area…
  •             Fearful of engaging in some type of conflict

The inability to confront subordinates about poor performance in cross-functional teams even though many do not report directly to you – hurts performance.  And the reasons why many do not want to engage in conflict are for three reasons -

• Believe it or not many are uncertain what to do,
• Many do not where to start and what to begin with and
• Many would rather hire someone to do this.
• Some cannot do anything do to organizational politics and organizational bureaucracy.

Aside from customers the greatest asset of any organization are employees. Organizational leaders must become stronger and create a conscious effort of creating synergies that instill a better working environment. This includes employer/employee relationships and numerous other activities that help workers communicate and collaborate. People do not leave bad companies, just bad environments. When there is collaboration more stuff gets done!  

About Contributor – Drew Stevens Ph.D. Drew Stevens PhD works with organizations that struggle with productivity that effects profits. Dr. Drew works with senior officers and their direction reports to dramatically increase relationships that build higher morale. He can be reached through his website at www.stevensconsultinggroup.com. © 2008. Drew J. Stevens Ph.D. All rights reserved.