What Are Cross Functional Teams?

When you think of the structure of your workplace, what comes to mind? Teams, departments, or specialties? Traditionally, workplaces are organized vertically, that is, each group is separated by specialty. The sales team in one group, the marketing team in another.

But are there any downsides to organizing the workplace like this? For some, vertical organizations can result in a stagnation of growth and repetitive work because teams are not integrated.

The solution? Cross-functional teams.

Key Takeaways:

• Cross-functional teams are diverse work teams that help fuel innovation.

• Teams need to be developed carefully and an effective group leader helps keep the team working well.

• Cross-functional work places reduce groupthink when collaborating on projects.

• Workplaces in the customer service sector or small business/startups benefit greatly from cross-functional team organization.

What Are Cross-Functional Teams?

At its root, cross-functional teams are groups of people with different expertise working together to achieve a common goal. Cross-functional teams are one solution to stimulating innovation in the workplace.

All team members of a cross-functional team have different skill sets but work towards a common goal. These teams are usually self-directed, meaning that members are assigned tasks from relevant team leaders and can therefore come up with creative solutions based on unique expertise.

Cross-functional teams are most common in start-up environments or small businesses. In these work environments, employees typically wear several hats and perform functions ad hoc as necessary.

An Example Of A Cross-Functional Team

Imagine having a group tasked with determining the best ways to cut costs for a certain project. Rather than leave the task to the budget teams, a cross-functional team would be a group of individuals from different departments coming together to find a solution.

To cut costs effectively, input from different aspects of the company is needed. For this cross-functional team, there could easily be members from finance, marketing, supply chain management, and HR. Together, they work together, using their collective areas of expertise, to come to an informed solution.

Why Are Cross-Functional Teams Useful?

A cross-functional team are useful because of their diversity, which:

• Reduces groupthink in problem-solving. Groupthink can occur when you put together a group of people with the same background because they have the same perspective due to their common standards. Cross-functionality, meanwhile, opens the potential for new ways of thinking as a result of maximizing on people’s different backgrounds.

• Encourages collaboration and innovation. Expertise diversity also allows for more opportunities for collaboration and fuels innovation within the workplace because a team can paly to each other’s strengths to create robust solutions.

• Provides feedback and improvement. It is hard to effectively analyze the pros and cons of a project without the input of people working in the different departments used to make it. Without a cross-functional approach, teams could easily overlook obvious weaknesses and inefficiencies other departments find glaringly obvious.

These are just some of the benefits of cross-functional teams. Many more can pop up in unexpected ways.

The Limitations Of Cross-Functional Teams

A team that is built to work in a cross-functional environment can work wonders for company innovation and reduce project time, if planned well. However, cross-functional teams can be dysfunctional and unorganized, leading to stagnating projects due to:

• Poor planning. Without any proper planning, a cross-functional team can quickly devolve into a confusing situation because its members will not understand their goals and expectations.

• Lack of authority. Cross-functional teams who do not have any decision-making authority can also increase project time waiting for a million approvals.

• Expertise bias. Members from different departments will contribute towards the common goal, but in the end, they are likely going to be biased towards the needs of their department.

• Freeloaders. When some members don’t make a fair contribution to the process, it places an unfair stress on its other members.

However, cross-functional teams can still be very effective with good leadership, proper planning, appropriate channels of authority and communication, and a clear understanding of shared values and goals.

With these in place, you can mitigate the limitations of cross-functional teams and focus on its strengths.

Tips For Developing Cross-Functional Teams

Here are some tips to developing an effective cross-functional team:

1. Assemble the perfect team. Find group members who work well in teams, specifically those who can work independently and collaboratively. Ideally, you want a diversity of perspectives and experiences.

   Additionally, a cross-functional team should be comprised of people who are both stakeholders and have relevant knowledge of broader corporate goals.

2. Assign a leader. Find a leader for the team and make it someone who can delegate tasks, keep the team on track, and who can moderate discussion. The entire cross-functional team should have a leader, as well as each discrete team (e.g., marketing, finance, etc.) This helps establish direction and makes everyone’s jobs easier.

3. Define goals early. Create clear, transparent, and consistent roles and expectations. Make sure everyone is on the same page.

   Good leadership means keeping team members apprised of big-picture goals while also giving direction about smaller tasks. Identifying clearly defined measures of success early on will ensure the project stays on track.

4. Conflict resolution. Don’t allow for conflict between departments or people to slow innovation. While different teams may have opposing needs and wishes, someone neutral needs to step in and set priorities. Everyone needs to be reminded, early and often, that the success of the project, not any one department, is paramount.

5. Communicate. Cross-functional teams only work with stellar communication. From the communication software you use to the meetings you hold, ensure that everyone is regularly kept abreast of important updates without flooding people’s inboxes with irrelevant information.

   Additionally, don’t be afraid to bring in consultants or contractors to help, if you’re not sure what to do next.

6. Adjust as you go. Make sure the team is consistently re-evaluating what they are doing, if they are making progress, and how weaknesses can be remedied.

   The benefit of cross-functional teams is that you catch inefficiencies early on and that you plan for different snags before a project even begins. Be ready to adapt on the fly, even if it’s at the request of a different department.

The bottom line? Effective management and invested participants make for an effective team.

Final Thoughts

Cross-functional teams are a new tool for innovation in the workplace that can have very positive results on production.

If you are looking at a job that emphasizes the use of cross-functional teams or are hearing about it more in the workplace, know that this type of team organization is used to increase the diversity of expertise and creativity on projects.

Cross-functional teams are a great way to integrate a company horizontally across teams and allow for collaboration outside the typical project norm.

So if you hear about them, get excited — you probably will be able to meet a lot of new people and work on new and interesting projects together.

Featured Image: Some rights reserved by Dean Meyers

Author

Heidi Cope

Heidi Cope is a former writer for the Zippia Career Advice blog. Her writing focused primarily on Zippia's suite of rankings and general career advice. After leaving Zippia, Heidi joined The Mighty as a writer and editor, among other positions. She received her BS from UNC Charlotte in German Studies.