| 1. Recognize that your
organization has a challenge in building
cross departmental teamwork. Becoming aware, and
having others gain awareness is a key to bringing
attention to this lack of teamwork.
2. Make a commitment to take
action. It starts with you! Take the team’s
temperature. Ask team members, on a scale of one to
ten, with one low and ten high, how they would rate
the teamwork between departments? Getting a baseline
is an important step and will keep your motivation
going when teamwork starts to improve.
3. Sell people on the
problem, not on the solution. Everyone knows
that teamwork is important. But asking people a
question like, “When we don’t work well
cross-departmentally, what impact does the lack of
teamwork have on our customers?” is an example of
having people understand the ramifications of the
problem and accept ownership versus telling them
what we need to do to fix the problem.
4. Gain consensus in your
own department as to which two or three departments
you need to work stronger with as a team. Pick
the team to work with that will have the most
benefit if cross-departmental teamwork is improved.
5. Make a list of all the
problems that can occur when teams do not work well
cross-departmentally. Are there profits or
customers that are lost by not being efficient or
providing exceptional service? Gain agreement that
these are problems.
6. Make a list of the top
two or three actions or opportunities that would
improve cross-departmental teamwork. Focus on
the ones that will give the biggest bang in improved
teamwork. Too many actions can be overwhelming.
7. Set up another meeting
with the cross-departmental team one week later
to review what went well or right, what problems did
the team encounter, and what actions will be taken
the following week to improve teamwork.
8. Meet frequently.
Repeat weekly meetings until everyone, including
customers, agree that cross-departmental
communication and teamwork has improved.
Improving cross-departmental teamwork creates change
that deeply impacts the culture of your
organization. People will feel uncomfortable being
forced to work with team members they have been able
to avoid in the past. We can guarantee that team
members are going to say, “We are too busy to meet
this week.” Don’t fall for this trick. Remember,
dysfunctional teams will do anything humanly
possible not to meet. If you want to lead your
organization to the ranks of the Best of the Best,
cross-departmental teams in your organization need
to be united. It’s up to you to set the example and
make sure each member on your team understands that
teamwork is not an option, but a necessity.
Need
help? Peter Barron Stark Companies has
been building organizations where employees love to
come to work and customers love to do
business for more than twenty years.
Our Services Include:
Please visit our
blog,
www.peterstark.com, contact us via email,
peter@pbsconsulting.com or call us toll free,
877.727.6468. |
