Helping cross-functional team leaders achieve better results
26th May 2020 | Dante Ricci
Research led to the creation of a “Success Guide to Leading A Cross-Functional Team”.
My aim with this research is to help cross-functional team leaders garner better team performance by providing an easily consumable, repeatable set of recommended behaviours and actions to help guide them to success. Team leaders can utilize the knowledge provided from these research findings for guidance, but they must refine their own personal leadership style by continuously practicing the right behaviours and actions to unleash their own and their team’s potential.
Terms of reference
A cross functional team is defined in Wikipedia (2018) as “a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal”
A cross-functional demand management team is defined in this study as a temporary and geographically dispersed group of individuals who come together from within a large multinational company to help drive more interest and consequently more revenue for their company’s solutions.
A successful demand-management campaign requires cross-functional collaboration to build and disseminate the most impactful content that speaks directly to the hearts and minds of potential customers. The cross-functional demand-management campaign team decides on what content to build or reuse but also what digital and physical marketing channels should be used and when. Additionally, the team develops and implements training for each campaign.
Cross-functional team members typically spend only a small percentage of time to support the demand generation campaign.
A cross-functional team leader as defined in this study spearheads the global demand-generation strategy and execution. The team leader’s main responsibility is to nurture a team culture of proactive participation across marketing and sales to build and run a campaign that increases leads for their company’s solutions.
Cross-functional demand-management team leaders need to collaborate with and ultimately get buy-in from each team member to successfully plan, coordinate and execute the demand-generation strategy. The team leader partners with his or her global marketing colleagues as well as the marketing and sales leads in each country market unit where the demand campaign will take place. The team leader may also need to bring in additional subject matter experts to be a part of the team.
The team leaders in this case do not have the political capital to alter the work location, reporting or reward structure of the team. They work with executives to bring together the right personnel to be a part of the team. Team members assigned to the project are usually chosen because of their functional role within the larger corporate organizational structure.
Methodology
To better understand the most effective behaviours and actions that cross-functional team leaders should utilize to improve their team’s performance I chose to use qualitative research. I used ethnography as a data collection method to help make corporate culture visible.
To help solve the complicated task of effectively leading a cross-functional team I collected data through qualitative interviews, workplace observation, journal research and anecdotal experiences. To incorporate my findings into an easily consumable set of behaviours and actions to help team leaders improve team performance I focused on two main research questions.
- What are the most effective behaviours that could be used by cross-functional team leaders to improve team performance?
- What are the most effective actions that could be used by cross-functional team leaders to improve team performance?
I conducted a series of phone-based qualitative research interviews with stakeholders at multiple levels across the organization. My objective was to obtain enough contextual data to better understand the pros and cons of practicing certain behaviours and actions in a multinational corporation setting. I then combined the interview data with my literature research and historical experience to triangulate and identify the best set of behaviours and actions team leaders could use to improve cross-functional team performance. The interview questions I asked the interviewees focused on the research gaps as well as the behaviours and actions I wanted to learn more about from the literature review.
The questions I utilized in my interviews included:
- How does empathy or lack of empathy effect team performance?
- How does mindfulness help you better lead cross-functional teams? If so, how?
- Do you think it is important to articulate the value of the initiative to each individual stakeholder and team member? Why?
- What role does power play in interdepartmental cross-functional team effectiveness?
- How can executive sponsorship help or hinder cross-functional team performance?
- Does inclusiveness benefit team performance? If so, how?
- What are some specific actions you would recommend that cross-functional team leaders take to help their team reach peak performance?
- Do you build a team charter when leading cross-functional team efforts? If so, why?
- Which behaviours should cross-functional team leaders practice to help their team reach peak performance?
- What are some other behaviours and actions you have noticed that drive better results through cross-functional teams?
- Interviewees included personnel who were stakeholders in go-to-market demand management campaigns. Throughout each interview I transcribed the salient points from each answer and further probed the interviewee to draw out more insight and context.
Implementation of my qualitative interview plan
I aimed to collect broad and diverse data from the full spectrum of perspectives for a demand management campaign. My objective was to choose people from marketing, sales, pre-sales, and operations who most likely led cross-functional teams multiple times in their careers. To attain further diversity, I chose to ask a variety of stakeholders from multiple hierarchal levels within our company.
As a seasoned employee who worked for SAP for over 13 years I had a mature network of people I could choose from to interview. I selected eight different colleagues. I chose five of the eight people to interview because I has experienced their tremendous abilities to lead cross-functional teams first-hand. The remaining three interviewees were chosen due to the nature of their role and department. All three of those interviewee candidates were executives who were one or two levels higher up in the organization than me.
Six of the eight people I asked to interview accepted my invitation. Interestingly, two of the three people I chose to interview that I knew the least, did not reply to my email request. I can only surmise as to why they did not respond. Perhaps they were anxious about making career-limiting statements during the interview with someone they hardly knew. Moreover, they may not have replied because I am further down the organizational hierarchy, which made it less of a liability not to respond comparative to someone with more power.
Subsequently, two interviewees suggested I also ask specific people for interviews, who they thought were excellent cross-function al team leaders. I invited each for an interview and both accepted. I was able to complete eight interviews in total.
Research findings, data collection and analysis
Individuals from different departments and divisions within SAP’s fully matrixed organization regularly come together to complete cross-functional initiatives. Proactive employee engagement from these inter-disciplinary initiatives is uneven which often produces less than optimal results. My research is focused on helping team leaders garner peak performance from these cross-functional, geographically dispersed teams. Although there are nuanced differences between SAP’s organizational structure and culture versus other large multinational companies, I believe the research findings can be useful for cross-functional team leaders from other large multinational companies as well.
Comparing the interview data with the literature
The best, most comprehensive journal article I read on the topic was written by Rebecca Proehl (2012) titled “Enhancing the effectiveness of cross-functional teams·. Proehl researched literature that was published in the 1990s and uncovered five factors that were repeatedly cited as being critical to success of a cross-functional team.
Membership of a team – The first factor Proehl cited was that “membership of the team is critical, specifically having: functional representation, open-minded, highly motivated members; and representation from the end users (Brookes, 1992; 1993; Henke, et al, 1993; McClenahen, 1993; O’Brian, 1994; Parker, 199 4b; Pooley, 1994; Trent and Monczka , 1994)” (Proehl, 1996, P4).
The interviewees I talked with did not speak much about the link between team member representation and cross-functional team success. I believe this is because team members at SAP are either assigned or asked to participate in an initiative due to their functional role and expertise. In future research, I think it would be interesting to collect data about cross-functional teams that have members from different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities and areas of expertise versus teams that are formed on functional diversity alone. I am curious to understand if more diverse teams who have a wider range of perspectives and knowledge results in better performance.
Skilled leader in position of authority – The second factor Proehl laid out was that “A skilled team leader in a position of authority is a key factor”, (Brookes, 1992; 1993; Carson, 1992; Parker, 1994c; Trent and Monczka, 1994) (Proehl, 1996, P4).
Authority was mentioned as a factor by a couple of the interviewees but not as much as some other factors. This may have been due the fact that I did not ask the interviewees about this factor specifically.
INTERVIEWEE 1
If you do not have executive sponsor or person of authority behind it, it’s harder to pull off.
INTERVIEWEE 1
People will follow authority, but they will really drive if they believe… influence is sometimes more important.
Authority and accountability – The third factor Proehl cited (1996) was “the team must have both the authority and the accountability to accomplish its task”, (Brookes, 1992; 1993; Henke, et al, 1993; Trent and Monczka, 1994) (Proehl, 1996, P4).
Many of the interviewees agreed with the accountability factor.
INTERVIEWEE 2
It helps to go back to the original brief later in the project to point out what they agreed to if there is an accountability issue.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Accountability drives culture change.
INTERVIEWEE 6
The leader needs to take accountability of the reality in the end.
Sponsors can also give a project more authority from a directional and budget perspective. If the crossfunctional team leader does not have budget authority or support from someone with budget authority, it may result in less stakeholder buy-in. One interviewee pointed out issues at large companies between authority and ownership:
INTERVIEWEE 5
In a large co“In a large company sometimes, there is strong ownership but lack of accountability. Leaders like to own a project and a good outcome but do not want to be tied to bad outcomes.
I agree with this statement. I recently completed a cross-functional team initiative as a team member and the project sponsor was focused on the positive value the project delivered but also minimizing outcomes where the results were not up to par.
To keep all stakeholders accountable, cross-functional team leaders along with the sponsor should agree and communicate with the team on what measurable objectives will be tracked. They should communicate with the measurable key performance indicators with each stakeholder.
Pinto, Pinto and Prescott pointed out that: “Project managers would be well advised to make use of existing organizational goals or to develop specific, project-related goals as a rallying point under which members of diverse disciplines and departments can share common purposes and achieve cooperation” (Pinto, Pinto and Prescott,1993, P1 293). Jordan and Vazzana stated: “It’s the data on lead measures that makes the difference, that enables you to close the gap between what you know your team should do and what they are actually doing (Jordan, J. and Vazzana, M. 2011, P48).” Interviewees agreed:
INTERVIEWEE 5
People love it when they know what they need to do, how they are getting scored.
INTERVIEWEE 1
You have to be really clear who is responsible, who is accountable, and it has to be clear ultimately who the decision-maker is. The cross-functional team leader needs to explain what it is they want to achieve, then lay it out in a way that people who come at it from different perspectives can understand.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Accountability drives culture change.
INTERVIEWEE 7
The leader needs to take the accountability of the reality in the end.
One interviewee had a different perspective – Interviewee 4: “Never been a fan of scorecards. Whenever you do formal things like that, they tend to crush under their own weight in maintenance..”
From my perspective, team members need to know what is expected of them regarding both qualitative and quantitative measures, including timelines. By identifying and referencing measurable objectives teams can track how much progress they’ve made towards their overarching and individual goals, which helps to hold everyone accountable for the team’s performance.
Management Support and adequate resources – The fourth factor Proehl identified was that “there must be management support and adequate resources for the team (Bolet, 1994; O’Connor, 1993; Trent and Monczka, 1994)” (Proehl, 1996, P4) Proehl also states that:
- “The role of the sponsor becomes vital if the members themselves are not in key positions of authority” (Proehl, 1996, P8).
- “Organizational support and resources are needed to ensure team success. Such support encompasses many aspects , including offering work time or release time for members to work on cross-functional teams, holding immediate supervisors accountable for the active participation of their direct reports, identifying sponsors from the upper management ranks who are committed to cross functional teams and providing budgetary and other support to the teams” (Proehl, 1996, P 8).
Additionally, Blindenbach-Driessen declares that: “Senior management support and the experience of the project leader contribute to the performance of innovation projects” (Blindenbach-Drriessen, 2015, P35). Kloppenborg et al support this view by asserting that: “Three sponsor behaviour variables were shown to be significantly positively predictive of project success: defining performance/success, mentoring the project manager, and prioritizing” (Kloppenborg et al, 2009, P156).
The interviewees reinforced the literature.
INTERVIEWEE 1
Always good to have more powerful executives and stakeholders supporting.
INTERVIEWEE 1
If you do not have executive sponsor or person of authority behind it, it’s harder to pull off.
INTERVIEWEE 7
Executive sponsorship can help you open doors to other organizations.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Executive sponsorship is crucial.
INTERVIEWEE 6
Executive sponsors help in giving direction on where to spend time and where to set priorities.
On the other hand, several interviewees warned that executive sponsorship has some pitfalls.
INTERVIEWEE 4
There is a negative impact from sponsors who can’t give sustained sponsorship.
INTERVIEWEE 8
A sponsor who does not have power can’t always change the dynamics of the project.
INTERVIEWEE 8
Executive sponsorship can help you open doors to other organizations.Sponsors have power, but they can only get you to the table. Sometimes they can’t commit to board-funded levels unless there is a high-level executive sponsor who can open-up the door and remove the barriers.
INTERVIEWEE 6
Executive sponsors help in giving direction on where to spend time and where to set priorities. On the other hand, where it can become a hurdle is when you don’t have equal executive sponsorship from all areas. Because why should they should push someone else’s agenda.
I have concluded that cross-functional initiatives should have an executive championing the effort. The cross-functional team leader needs an executive sponsor who can help articulate why the initiative is beneficial to both the team members and executives across organizational silos. Sponsors could also help create an environment for the cross-functional team to succeed by helping set priorities, making decisions and mentoring team leaders.
Keep in mind that It takes time for the cross-functional team leader, executive sponsor(s) and team members to agree on what the right amount of adequate resources are needed to execute a specific initiative. Interviewee 1 indicated that “the most powerful indicator of an executive sponsor is the investment of time.”
Adequate internal and external communication systems – The fifth factor Proehl highlighted was that “adequate internal and external communication systems must exist” (Henke, el al, 1993; O’Connor, 1993; Parker, 1994b) (Proehl, 1996, P4).
Additional research articles also concurred with Proehl’s findings. According to the results of a study by Patrashkova-Volzdoska et al, there was “a consistent curvilinear relationship between email and team performance across a number of different performance measures” (Patrashkova-Volzdoska et al, 2003, P 266). Additionally, Boerner et al, investigated the influence formal team meetings and informal crossfunctional communication on performance. They found that “combining frequent team meetings with a high frequency of cross-functional communication appears to be most conducive to team performance” (Boerner et al, 2012, P264).
The interviewees provided answers that support the literature’s findings. Below are three positive endorsements about the need for communication system.
INTERVIEWEE 2
Make sure you communicate frequently with the team members’ managers. Keep their managers on cc in email. Be very transparent about keeping team members’ managers in the loop; it helps team members to stay more on their toes. Keeping the extended team as part of your team helps drive commitment as well.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Communication is key. We need to have a well-defined communications plan and cadence all the time. I schedule 30-minute one-to-one weekly calls, 90-minute monthly meetings, 60 to 90-minute weekly team calls. They must happen every time along with an ongoing cadence of emails. I dedicate time each week for skip level discussions.
INTERVIEWEE 8
I set up a communication plan where things are actionable or updated. It also helps the team feel connected and engaged.
However, some interviewees explained that the team leader needs to think carefully about the volume and content of their communications with stakeholders.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Too much communication will sometimes result in knowing less about what you are trying to accomplish.
INTERVIEWEE 1
Digital communications are powerful but some of the nuances and context gets lost.
INTERVIEWEE 2
Sometimes we rely too much on emails and con calls… need to agree on what type of communication and how often.
These research findings align with my experience.
Communication planning is intertwined with the stakeholder management of a project. Cross-functional project leaders must Identify each key stakeholder and what their role is in relationship to their initiative. The team leader should determine what level each stakeholder needs to be involved and create a stakeholder communication plan accordingly. Team leaders need to decide on the type of communication (voice, email, web conference) and what they would like to achieve for each communication. That decision will help them estimate what the right cadence for each communication should be. They ought to agree with the stakeholders on the frequency and communication type that they will communicate with for the core team, sponsor, influencers, individual team members or smaller work stream groups within the larger team. The cadence should match up to the need for the right level of knowledge exchange needed.
It is important to create a well-thought-out agenda for each stakeholder cadence call. Cadence calls with little value could waste stakeholders’ valuable time and lead to less participation on calls and consequently less contribution. Likewise, email communication needs to be consistent and structured in a way that does not overload team members. If cross-functional team members get information overload they may disengage or miss vital information.
From my experience a call debrief after a project is complete is helpful. There are a lot of lessons learned from every initiative that can be mined for future use.
Communicating what you are doing across organizational silos can also help the company to avoid initiatives that duplicate or repeat similar initiatives. I have found out about other cross-functional initiatives that were duplicating work in our company a few times over the years. One such instance I experienced was a smart city showcase that one internal team was working on at SAP. Their team created their showcase but failed to contact the actual team that runs the smart city business at SAP. The smart cities team had already completed a separate showcase that was shown at the company’s main conference and had also created a smaller version of the same showcase for smaller events.
Moreover, Anthony et al, 2014 stated that: “the quality of lateral coordination allows the department heads to better help the cross-functional project team resolve problems/issues, obtain needed resources, or obtain the political influence the cross-functional project team needs regarding project matters” (Anthony et. al, 2014, P154). This factor was also supported by the interviewees:
INTERVIEWEE 3
Keep the team members’ managers in the loop right from the beginning, so when issues come up, and they always come up, you don’t have to start from zero when you deal with issues. Make sure you communicate frequently with the team members’ managers. Keep their managers on cc in email. Be very transparent about keeping team members managers in the loop, it helps team members to stay more on their toes. Keeping the extended team as part of your team helps drive commitment as well.
INTERVIEWEE 6
Cross-functional projects are additive to the team members’ regular job and they do not report to you and sometimes their daily responsibility is higher priority, so you must get their managers to give the ok for them to help.
Overall structure – Proehl also emphasized the need to establish an overall structure: “When teams are working on broad organizational issues, an overarching structure is needed for the cross-functional teams to clarify the boundaries of the projects and establish methods for communication among the stakeholders” (Proehl, 1996, P8). I agree with Proehl; I believe, however, that cross-team leaders should rather keep the overall structure in mind rather than treating it as a solitary factor in team success.
Although I thought Proehl’s findings were the most comprehensive list of factors that lead to higher performance of cross-functional teams, I found several other factors in the literature I reviewed.
Honesty – “In the leadership literature, characteristics such as honesty and intelligence are important across the board” (Scott, 2012, P42). I agree with this observation from Scott. Although, honesty and intelligence were not brought up by the interviewees. This could possibly be because of both honesty and intelligence are seen as foundational characteristics.
Trust – Buvik and Tvedt found that “team trust can both directly and indirectly enhance team performance via project commitment and ultimately have a positive impact on project outcomes” (Buvik and Tvedt, 2016, P131). This factor was also supported by the interviewees:
INTERVIEWEE 4
Trust is the foundation and the human capital (especially in a day to day) who do you turn to when you get things done… trust, competency and willingness to collaborate.
INTERVIEWEE 4
Cross-functional projects are additive to the team members’ rPower is merely influence; you can’t exert power or influence if you don’t have trust with the people you work with.
INTERVIEWEE 2
You are not always going to win every battle, but if you’re flexible, you win something far greater, which is trust with someone, which may help in the long run versus winning what you want to get done.
I believe trust is essential for any team leader to be effective. Without trust, team members feel vulnerable and will not be as forthcoming with ideas and contributions.
Inclusiveness – The literature talks about striving to remove the imbalances and being inclusive. “Various researchers have shown power imbalances between the participants appears to be one of the chief sources of failure of interorganizational collaboration” (Mintzberg, Jorgensen, Dougherty, Westley, 1996, P65). Gleeson states that “lack of focus on inclusion is one of the core reasons transformation efforts fail” (Gleeson, 2017). The interviewees supported this factor as well.
INTERVIEWEE 4
Overall, you get a far more effective team when you get an inclusive and diverse team.
INTERVIEWEE 6
It benefits in two ways. It helps with understanding a problem better. It helps creativity of the problem-solving.
INTERVIEWEE 8
Including everyone makes it an even playing field and when people truly feel that they had the same opportunity. It’s an easier frame of reference as a base line for a leader and the team member to work from.
I agree that inclusiveness can drive more engagement and buy-in from the team, but it can have drawbacks. Team members could stray off topic while exploring verbally for instance. Three interviewees also addressed drawbacks to inclusion.
INTERVIEWEE 1
Could result in ideas and thoughts from team members that are unrelated to the project.
INTERVIEWEE 5
The more inclusive you are, the better decisions can be made, but it is an impediment to speed.
INTERVIEWEE 2
This doesn’t mean everybody has to contribute to the solution or have a say every time.
Show appreciation and share the limelight – John Kotter (2011) points out that: “As employees begin to behave in ways that drive change forward, their efforts must be publicised, promoted and praised. Only then will others see the positive impact a change effort is having on an organization, and only then will they begin to change their own behaviours to help move that effort ahead.”
I believe cross-functional team leaders should take the time to thank team members in person or via a call and through email. I think the team leaders ought to let both the team members’ managers and critical stakeholders know the value they added to the initiative as well. Appreciation is not only nice but could create further engagement from the cross-functional team members. For example, Shawn Ach or stated that the company JetBlue found “data revealed that for every 10% increase in people reporting being recognized, JetBlue saw a 3% increase in retention and a 2% increase in engagement (Achor, 2016).
The interviewees agree that recognition is important:
INTERVIEWEE 1
Recognition is a good thing and is a much stronger motivator than most other things he can think of if done properly and on a recurring cadence in some predictable way.
INTERVIEWEE 3
Recognition of their efforts and contribution helps further engagement and willingness and outstanding results.
INTERVIEWEE 8
Recognition is a good thing and is a much stronger motivator than most other things he can think of if done properly and on a recurring cadence in some predictable way.
INTERVIEWEE 4
You must almost go out of your way to share success or the limelight.
Creating a Charter – One factor that surprised me was the lack of consensus on establishing a team charter to drive team performance from the interviewees. Some interviewees agreed:
INTERVIEWEE 1
Absolutely must have a team charter and a unifying principle.
INTERVIEWEE 2
It is valuable to take the time to build a brief that everyone agrees to.
INTERVIEWEE 8
It depends on the project. If the team knows each other, it does not need to be as stringent. If everyone does not share a common goal, then the team will not self-correct and you may need to create a charter.
While other interviewees did not agree:
INTERVIEWEE 5
Vision only, no specific detailed charter. Set the mission with the team collaboratively.
INTERVIEWEE 6
Not so sure, because at SAP being a part of a cross-functional effort is super commonplace for all employees usually. Not sure if that really helps.
INTERVIEWEE 7
Our teams are so part time and so fluid it might not be beneficial. But do believe we need to spend time determining roles and responsibilities.
Courtright et al, caution: “Leaders and team members should understand that team chartering is not universally beneficial. Rather, developing a high-quality charter is particularly suited for teams low on conscientiousness. As such, leaders and members should evaluate the level of conscientiousness within the team before engaging in a team charter exercise. For teams low in conscientiousness, it would be a necessary investment of resources to create a high-quality team charter. For teams high in conscientiousness, creating a high-quality team charter may not be needed” (Courtright et al, 2017, P1 468).
Even though there were mixed feelings about the need for a formal team charter It was clear that there is a need to set the vision and purpose collaboratively which will garner active engagement and guide future decision making. This action will also help external stakeholders outside of the team to understand what you are trying to accomplish. External stakeholders can often help by providing insight and resources.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Clarity of vision and purpose – mission statement – emblazoned each day. Use it to guide decision-making.
INTERVIEWEE 5
Paint a crisp and clear vision that lands with the people you need to influence.
INTERVIEWEE 4
First, establish a shared sense of purpose. You must clearly articulate your clear vision and purpose.
Collaborate with each stakeholder about why they should participate – Team members must be able to internalize and align the potential benefit of participating. Typically, individual team members are willing to help if a project will provide higher exposure for them in the company or possibly another reason. Simsarian declares that the “team leader needs to work to promote the centrality of the team for all members. In this regard, the leader will want to develop the commitment of all team members to the project. One approach is to make the success of the project result in career gains for the members of the team” (Simsarian, 2002, P210). The interviewees’ responses also supported this factor.
INTERVIEWEE 4
He who knows why is the person who drives towards results.
INTERVIEWEE 5
The why is the hardest thing to agree on or communicate.
INTERVIEWEE 4
Why is more important than the what.
INTERVIEWEE 7
If it’s a bigger role and it’s something new and different you must take the time with each individual to garner buy-in and help drive the project making sure they buy into the why and help amplify the project.
Individual team members must be able to internalize and align with the potential benefit of participating in a specific initiative. It is clear that there is a need for cross-functional leaders to agree with everyone about what their contribution will be. Misalignment could lead to confusion and lack of engagement.
Combining a clear vision and purpose with clear measurable objectives are vital to project success because team members will understand why the initiative is important and what role they play in making sure the outcome of the project is a success. If not, some team members as Interviewee 3 stated: “Will just do the bare minimum and not show up for meetings.”
Data themes
I unearthed seven prevailing actions and seven prevailing behavioural themes from the data.
The seven most effective actions cross-functional team leaders can take to improve team performance
- Garner a proactive executive sponsor.
- Recruit a functionally diverse team.
- Collaborate with each stakeholder about “why” they should play a part.
- Gain support from each team member’s manager.
- Agree on a unified vision and purpose with the team.
- Establish measurable individual and team objectives.
- Create and flawlessly execute a communication plan.
The seven most effective behaviours cross-functional team leaders can use to increase team performance
- Do your best to be trustworthy, honest, respectful and authentic.
- Strive to be collaborative and to remove power imbalances. Be inclusive.
- Practice staying in the moment and engaged during meetings (mindfulness).
- Lead with empathy and practice being less judgmental
- Be transparent.
- Be accountable. Tackle issues as they arise. Leave room for mistakes.
- Show your appreciation and share the limelight.
I also expanded on the high-level description of each of the seven actions and seven behaviours above by adding a contextual definition as well as a supporting quote and advice for team leaders to consider. I aggregated this information to make “The Success Guide to Leading A Cross-Functional Team” which is an easily consumable document for leaders to use to help guide them to success (see Appendix A).
Summary, implications for SAP and next steps
With these findings, cross-functional team leaders will garner a better understanding of what behaviours and actions could be used to improve team performance. Team leaders will need to understand, however, that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to leading cross-functional teams. Although this research will help them attain a better understanding of the most effective actions and behaviours, leaders must refine their personal leadership style through continuous practice to unleash their own and their team’s potential
Appendix A – The Success Guide to Leading A Cross-Functional Team
Do you need to lead a cross-functional, temporary and geographically dispersed group of individuals that come together and spend only a small percentage of time to support an initiative?
If so, use this checklist to nurture a team culture of proactive participation to achieve peak performance.
Note: There is no-one-size-fits-all model for leading cross-functional teams. Team leaders must refine their own personal leadership style by continuously practicing the right behaviours and actions to unleash their own and their team’s potential.
Actions
- Garner a proactive executive sponsor.
- Recruit a functionally diverse team.
- Collaborate with each stakeholder about “why” they should participate.
- Gain support from each team member’s manager.
- Agree on a unified vision and purpose with the team.
- Establish measurable individual and team objectives.
- Create and flawlessly execute a communication plan.
Behaviours
- Do your best to be trustworthy, honest, respectful and authentic.
- Strive to be collaborative and to remove power imbalances. Be inclusive.
- Practice staying in the moment and engaged during meetings.
- Lead with empathy. Practice being less judgmental.
- Be transparent.
- Be accountable. Tackle issues as they arise. Leave room for mistakes.
- Show your appreciation and share the limelight.
