What Is a Cross-Functional Team, and How Can It Help You Succeed?

Today's highly competitive marketplaces demand organizations to optimize their processes and align their department's growth capabilities towards common achievable goals. But lack of collaboration, transparency, trust, and visibility among departments leads to working in silos. This approach lacks the ability to leverage the collective resource available and is only likely to achieve short-term, scale-down goals.

The world's leading tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix have adopted a unique solution to this problem; a cross-functional approach. The idea is simple. Each company has different teams working on separate projects that acquire sound experience and sharp skills for that job. The goal is to group the right fit people across these teams together to leverage their collective skillset, added resources, and unique problem-solving skills.

Cross-functional teams have become increasingly popular in recent years as organizations have realized the benefits of combining different skill sets and perspectives. This smart grouping work approach is also responsible for boosting productivity, improving employee engagement, developing leadership skills, and fostering a stronger team culture.

But how exactly do cross-functional teams meet their success criteria? What are the top challenges that businesses face today when forming the right cross-functional teams, and, more importantly, is this approach the best way to achieve your desired business acumen? This article will go over each of these topics in depth:

What Is a Cross-Functional Team?

A cross-functional team is a group of people from different departments and disciplines who come together to achieve a common goal. They bring various perspectives, skills, and expertise to the table, allowing them to work on complex projects or solve difficult problems. Cross-functional teams are ideal for businesses requiring collaboration between departments and stakeholders with different levels of expertise to reach their objectives.

Cross-functional teams are often used in situations where a single person or department cannot complete the necessary tasks alone. For example, a product launch might require input from marketing, sales, engineering, and customer service teams. By forming a cross-functional team, all these stakeholders can work together on the project to ensure its success.

• The main advantage of a cross-functional team is that it can help a company increase efficiency and productivity by ensuring all necessary tasks are completed in a timely manner.

• By combining multiple talents into one cohesive unit, they can quickly identify and solve problems that a single team or individual could not solve.

• Furthermore, by having different types of expertise in one place, they can innovate more effectively and create products that meet the customer's needs.

• With the right combination of skills, knowledge, and expertise, these teams can help drive growth and success for your company.

The Possible Benefits of Cross-Functional Teams

Cross-functional teams offer a unique approach to problem-solving and collaboration. As the name suggests, these teams are composed of members from different departments or areas of expertise that have complementary skills. This allows them to draw on the collective strengths of the team in order to accomplish a task or reach a goal.

Other possible benefits of adopting a cross-functional approach include the following:

Collaborative Platform

Combining the talents and specialized skills of multiple individuals from different departments creates a collaborative platform that makes effective problem-solving and collaboration possible. Having cross-functional teams also helps create cohesion within the company as everyone gets to know each other better and builds relationships.

Wide Range of Specialized Skills

The benefits of having a cross-functional team are vast. For starters, it brings together a diverse range of perspectives which helps to uncover solutions and innovative ideas that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Additionally, because the members are from different departments and functions, they can be better equipped to identify potential challenges and obstacles during the problem-solving process, ensuring the solutions implemented are effective and efficient.

Induced Learning Culture

With the help of a cross-functional team, companies can break down silos between departments and enhance communication and collaboration. This helps foster a culture of learning and experimentation as employees become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and how they can support each other to succeed.

Improved Problem Solving

Cross-functional teams offer a unique approach to problem-solving and collaboration. As the name suggests, these teams are composed of members from different departments or areas of expertise that have complementary skills. This allows them to draw on the collective strengths of the team in order to accomplish a task or reach a goal. Moreover, the collective feedback of a diversified team can be used to identify potential areas for improvement, inform future strategies, and ultimately lead to improved outcomes.

Employee Engagement Skills

Working in a cross-functional team also allows members to build on their management skills. They will learn how to work effectively with different personalities and how to handle conflict resolution. This team dynamic can create a strong foundation for creative problem-solving and increased organizational innovation.

Efficient Use of Resources

Organizations can maximize their resources and accomplish more with fewer people by having a variety of people working on a single project. These teams allow organizations to use their resources more effectively, freeing up time and money that can be used elsewhere.

The Potential Challenges of Cross-Functional Teams

Cross-functional teams are a great way to improve the efficiency and success of any organization. But, like with any team, unique challenges can arise when working with a cross-functional team. Here are some of the common obstacles you may face when leading a cross-functional team

Poorly Defined Goals

A cross-functional team is composed of members from different departments and backgrounds who may have differing opinions on the project's end goals. It is important to ensure that everyone understands and agrees upon the objectives before beginning any work.

Solution: Clearly breakdown the project goals and defining the parameters to measure its success will help resolve this challenge. Also, improving the meeting's frequency and communication protocols and revisiting the goals will help the team become a single voice.

Different Priorities

Each team member may have different priorities, depending on their professional background. This can create tension and difficulty in completing projects if those priorities do not align with the team's overall goal.

Solution: In order for cross-functional teams to be successful, each team member must have a clear understanding of their role in contributing to the team's success. This can only be made possible using careful planning and thought-through task distribution.

Learning How to Work Together

When working with cross-functional teams, it is important for team members to learn how to collaborate effectively. Learning how to communicate, influence decision-making, and share ideas effectively with people from different departments can be difficult.

Solution: When combining a cross-functional team, ensure a clear organizational structure is in place for the decision-making process from the beginning. This will put you ahead of any potential internal conflict and ensure unaffected communication.

Limiting Professional Advancement

In some cases, working on a cross-functional team may limit a person's ability to advance professionally as they may not be able to take advantage of opportunities related to their specific field. This can halt that individual's efforts toward the project's success.

Solution: To avoid a situation like this, many organizations that successfully rely on their cross-functional teams implement limited terms for group members, with members from various departments rotating in and out of the team to avoid stagnation.

Cross-functional teams have the potential to provide organizations with new insights and innovative solutions, but only if managed properly. If you are considering utilizing a cross-functional team, it is important to understand the challenges that come with it and plan accordingly. By addressing these challenges early on, you can ensure that your cross-functional team is set up for success.

How To Build a Successful Cross-Functional Team

A successful cross-functional team is essential for businesses that want to stay competitive and remain successful. Before you start building your team, it's important to have a clear goal in mind that everyone can work towards.

To assemble the right team, start by identifying the skills and knowledge each team member should possess. Choose people with diverse backgrounds, experience, and expertise to ensure that all perspectives are included. When possible, include team members from different departments to ensure the cross-functional aspect of the team is effective.

Once the team is assembled, plan out the work that needs to be done. Make sure each person understands their responsibilities and the timeframe for completing them. Consider how their tasks will fit into the overall project goals and objectives.

Finally, evaluate the results of your cross-functional team. Make sure to provide feedback to each member, so they understand how their contribution helped the project succeed. If the team did not meet the desired goals, consider where changes need to be made to improve performance in the future.

By taking the time to properly build a cross-functional team and setting specific goals for them to work towards, you can ensure that your business continues to remain competitive and successful.

Conclusion

Cross-functional teams can be a powerful tool for companies to maximize efficiency and reach their goals. Companies can create a productive environment that encourages innovation and collaboration by combining various skillsets and perspectives. Also, cross-functional teams can help organizations achieve their objectives faster and with greater success. With the right approach, these teams can make a major difference in how a company operates.

Do you want to implement the cross-functional approach on your teams in place but don't have the resources to do so? No worries. Aspired is here to take care of all your team-building challenges by providing high-quality extended team resources.

Contact Aspired to hire your dedicated remote cross-functional team today!