Creating a cross-functional team is an essential part of project success. It might also be the hardest part of the project. In this series, we’ll tackle the secrets of strong cross-functional teams. First, let’s talk about what it takes to build a strong team.
You know that one person that’s perfect to lead any project? The one that understands finance, marketing, manufacturing, logistics, and office politics? That can effortlessly communicate with department heads, company leadership, and employees and get them all on board?
Oh wait. You don’t have that person in your company?
Neither do we. Neither does anyone. It’s a truism that no one person can be all things to all people. And that is why we need cross-functional teams.
The 3 W’s of Cross-Functional Teams
Most of us have worked in or led cross-functional teams. We may think we know all about them. But to be crystal clear, let’s quickly review the three Ws of cross functional teams: what they are, when you’ll need them, and why they’re so important.
- What: A cross-functional team contains people from various departments working together to achieve a specific goal.
- When: Nearly every medium- to large-sized project calls for a cross-functional team – and so do a lot of small ones!
- Why: Few departments or teams have all the skills needed for a successful project. Take this article as an example. You can’t get a simpler or shorter-term project than publishing an online article. But it took three distinct skill sets (writing, graphic design, and web development) and two leaders (for project management and content revision) to guide it from outline to live webpage. Most projects will require much more.
A cross-functional team is a fact of business life. But it also offers some advantages beyond simply getting things done. This includes having a wider variety of viewpoints, opening up more possibilities and ideas, and getting fresh perspectives from new team members (as opposed to keeping brainstorming sessions within one team).
What’s a great cross-functional team look like?
- People: At a minimum, a cross-functional team should contain:
- Someone from upper management or the C-suite to champion the project. This person may not be available for every meeting, but they should be kept current with the team and project status.
- Someone (often a project manager or a business analyst) who understands the business interests and processes involved.
- Someone (usually a project manager) responsible for organizing and leading the project. This can double with one of the other roles.
- 1-2 people from the ‘build team’, e.g. developers, manufacturers, or whoever will produce the tangible part of the outcome.
- At least one subject matter expert; more complex projects will often require several experts.
- UX, CX, or product designers who understand the customer experience. A sales person could also be helpful if the UX/CX/product teams aren’t available.
- Communication: Aim for communication that’s open, frequent, and easy for team members to access. It’s a good idea to set and follow a schedule (e.g. a brief meeting every Monday to review the week, an email check-in on Friday) so that each team member will know what to expect.
- Culture: Hold space for each team member to contribute. Respect everyone’s time, and try to align the project goals with the larger goals of the organization – and, if possible, with the participating team members and their departments.
- Workflow: In a perfect world, teams would collaborate freely and work would flow seamlessly from one stage to the next. In the real world, we need to build extra time into schedules and deliverables to accommodate snags and slowdowns. These things happen in the best cross-functional teams; the goal is to anticipate them and keep them from upsetting the timeline (and your teammates).
A cross-functional team offers a much wider knowledge base to build on, which can help reduce the number of unexpected roadblocks. Overall, cross-functional teams – when done right – lead to better results. So what’s the problem?
When Cross-Functional Teams Go Wrong
So, so many problems! Google “cross-functional team challenges” and you’ll be treated to a maze of Reddit posts, articles, e-books, and more bemoaning cross-functional team dynamics, bottlenecks, leadership snags, and endless meetings.
We’re going to tackle this subject in detail in our next article. For now, let’s just hit the highlights (or lowlights). It’s helpful to keep these things in mind as you begin to build your cross-functional team. In no particular order, cross-functional teams can experience challenges with:
- Motivation: Encouraging team members to get onboard and feel enthusiastic about the project.
- Cooperation: Getting people from various departments to work together when they’d probably rather be focusing on their main role.
- Communication: Making sure everyone is clear on project goals, expectations, requirements, etc.
- Scheduling: Deciding on realistic deadlines, deliverables, roadmaps, etc.
- Prioritization: Helping team members balance their main job role with their role on the cross-functional team.
Forewarned is forearmed. These kinds of problems frequently occur when professionals from different departments and backgrounds work together. That’s a fact. Now that you know that fact, you can start to design the foundation of your cross-functional team in a way that reduces such conflicts.
How to Build a Strong Cross-Functional Team
For a strong cross-functional team, you need more than just one list of knowledge areas and another list of people with that knowledge. First, you need something to work toward: a clear and compelling goal.
Have a clear goal
All projects start with a goal. But is it a clear goal? Can the project lead effectively communicate the steps, timelines, and desired outcomes? Can they explain how these outcomes tie into the organization’s values and its larger goals? Can they articulate project goals so that stakeholders and prospective team members can relate them to their own goals?
What we’re talking about here is not a test of leadership or communication skills. It’s a test of understanding: the project/cross-functional team lead will only be able to manage their team effectively if they clearly understand the goal. So, the very first step in creating a successful cross-functional team is to have a deep, multi-faceted understanding of what you’re working towards and how it will impact your organization.
A word of caution: don’t just focus on the positive parts of this collaboration and goal. Try to anticipate the roadblocks, frustrations, and interpersonal or interteam conflicts that might arise during your team’s work. Not only will this make dealing with such issues easier, it will also help you answer challenges that stakeholders might pose. That’s why we’ve already previewed the problems cross-functional teams face.
Choose your crew carefully
Now that you have a direction and a motivation, it’s time to choose your team members. You’ll be dealing with a number of constraints here, e.g. time, budget, lack of organizational expertise in certain areas, etc. What’s available and feasible will vary. But in general, most successful cross-functional teams contain:
- A diverse mix of ages, backgrounds, roles, and education.
- A range of project-related skills, e.g. research, design, marketing, finance, etc.
- People from various departments – including those that may not be directly involved in the project but that have the ability to get things done within the organization (i.e. your CX champion).
- People with great soft skills (organization, communication, admin, leadership). These skills make teamwork happen, so they should be a sizable factor in determining who is on the team.
You’ll notice there are several team members that aren’t on this list. For example, you’ll likely need expert knowledge in several areas. However, the people with expert knowledge may not be available to join your team on a full-time basis. In that case, you could ask an expert to recommend another person to join the team in their place. Or you could ask them for periodic reviews of your output – but remember to build this review time into your schedule.
Stakeholders are another group that may not be available to join a cross-functional team full-time. Scheduling regular check-ins and reviews can help you ensure you have stakeholder support as your project moves forward. Similarly, end users or customers probably won’t be on your permanent team. But conducting periodic user tests will help you keep them at the center of your process.
If you’re reading this article, chances are good that you’ll either be leading the team or be involved in choosing a team leader. While experience in cross-team management is important, it’s also important to find a leader who knows when and what to delegate. For example, you might have a team leader who’s a great motivator and an effective office politician. However, this person is not so great at organization and admin. Will they be able to delegate these tasks to another team member? It’s all about finding a balance between different skills.
Build Your Supporting Framework
Next, decide which communication tools and other project-specific apps your team will use. Make sure to get plenty of input from various team members as you do this; they’ll be the ones implementing your decisions. Your goal should be to create an environment that promotes clear and frequent communication and collaboration – ideally, with the same tools that your team members already use.
This is also the time to discuss and set up team procedures and lines of communication. The details you use will depend on your team and project, but the goal is the same as before: try to eliminate as many possible confusion points and roadblocks as you can. Do your best to create an environment where all team members have space to share their ideas and understand what’s expected of them.
Create the Team Structure
This step is closely aligned with the previous one; we could probably call it 3B. As you’re tackling the technical framework, set up your team’s leadership framework. Make the team’s decision-making process and hierarchy clear to each team member. Set expectations regarding performance, communication, and team roles. Create a schedule of regular meetings as well as milestone check-ins.
By this point, you’ll also need to create a shared vocabulary – an agreed-upon set of definitions, concepts, and metrics that everyone in the team will use. This can eliminate misunderstandings and misalignments further along in the process. We’ve covered this step in our earlier article Why Your Business Needs a Shared, Customer-First Language.
Your goal here isn’t to go on a power trip; it’s to remove some of the stress of cross-team collaboration by making roles and responsibilities clear. Setting expectations is an essential part of any collaboration, and that’s what you’re doing.
Highlight Shared Purpose and Value
This is where a lot of team-building advice stops. But we suggest adding one more step to your cross-functional team process: Giving your team something to rally around.
This takes two steps:
- Emphasizing how the goal of this project will contribute to the organization’s success and culture. If you’re in a purpose-driven organization, it’s also important to tie your team’s effort and performance to company culture, values, and mission.
- Showing how working on this team can help each team member meet their professional goals (or those of their department).
In addition to new opportunities, joining a cross-functional team can mean uncertainty and extra work. You can help your team members stay motivated by focusing on these shared benefits.
Next: Solving Common Cross-Functional Team Challenges
Creating a great cross-functional team requires more than just purposefully assembling the right people and giving them the right tools. There’s also a lot of troubleshooting! Our next article will discuss the most common challenges faced by cross-functional teams and how you can overcome them.
And if you need guidance building a cross-functional team or solving some other tricky business problem, the CX by Design Team is here to help! Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation.
