As companies scale and grow and teams expand, the complexities of managing the business grow as well. One way to manage that complexity is to create a team-based organizational structure focused on different business functions. It seems like a logical move, but absent a thoughtful and intentional approach to how the functional teams will interact and collaborate with one another, these teams can morph over time into organizational and communication silos.
Leaders don’t set out to create silos that will impede growth and erode culture, but it happens and it’s costly. A recent study indicates that North American teams lose about seven hours a week to poor collaboration and communication, totaling more than 350 hours per year (source: Planview). A company reorganization down the road to tear down the silos and introduce a new structure can be equally costly in terms of both lost productivity and diminished organizational clarity.
A few thoughts on promoting collaboration and strengthening culture as companies scale and grow:
Encourage cross-functional relationships.
Simply put, we enjoy working with people we know and like. Don’t let functional boundaries impact who employees have an opportunity to get to meet. Starting with the onboarding process, create avenues – internal social channels, team-building activities, retreats, etc. – for employees to connect with one another and build relationships across the company based on mutual interests. Long term, this helps to attract and retain top talent.
Promote knowledge sharing.
Create opportunities for everyone – leaders, managers, and individual contributors – to share what it is that they do and why they do it. Maybe it’s your own version of a TED Talk series that spotlights employees, their work, and how they contribute to overall company goals, or a series of webinars to educate employees on critical capabilities within the team. When employees understand what everyone else does and how they fit into the big picture, they reach out to the right people at the right time, strengthening collaboration and fostering innovation.
Build collaboration into your workflow.
At every opportunity, have functional teams work together instead of separately. Rather than have individual functional teams provide quarterly updates to leadership, for example, build out a cross-functional team that develops a comprehensive update together. Create review loops that provide new and unique perspectives on work products. Offer opportunities to audit meetings across the organization. Visibility into how other teams function and insight into how they track performance can go a long way toward forging new relationships and reducing wheel reinvention.
Elevate and celebrate.
Successes are always a team effort. In communicating and celebrating those successes, tell the full story of how the team worked together and spotlight each individual contributor. Playing a part in a larger success story forms powerful bonds and motivates employees at all levels to broaden their perspective and think about how they can contribute to the greater good.
Increase visibility to information.
Knowledge is power, and an unfortunate hallmark of a siloed organization is the hoarding of information within departments and a lack of visibility into ongoing initiatives. Creating and maintaining centralized platforms – intranet sites, collaborative communication tools, searchable databases, etc. – that make data accessible across the company democratizes information and provides efficiency and accountability across the board.
Setting early and clear expectations on how teams collaborate across functions can help forge new relationships, foster a strong culture, and build a framework that promotes continued innovation and success going forward.
Kommentare