Four Tips to Developing Strong Cross-Team Collaboration

Where does your team's work end and the other team's begin? - If you haven't discussed it, it's probably a gray area.

We talk about roles and responsibilities for each person, but what about teams? When we're hired, we are provided a preliminary agreement of what we are supposed to do - the job description. Rarely do we get a team job description, and this is a problem.

If your team works closely with other teams within your organization, then there are likely hand-offs where your incomplete work is finished by another or many other teams - a form of cross-team collaboration.

Question - has your team and the other teams sat down and defined roles and responsibilities for this work? - if not, you're living in the gray area, and it's likely causing issues.

What kind of issues? - maybe you are seeing missed deadlines, details slipping through the cracks, avoidable errors, or poorly delivered final products.

Without clarity, these issues can cause teams to blame each other, approach projects with confusion, stoke animosity, and generally hurt productivity.

So, what can be done? Here are a few tips to help you improve your cross-team collaborations:

1. Develop clear roles and responsibilities for each team - who does what, when, and what are the expected deliverables?

2. Ensure each team is equipped for success - making sure each team has the resources to achieve their work is critical if you hope to ensure folks stick to their commitments.

3. Continuously scrutinize the relationship - things change, and keeping up-to-date with other teams not only aids performance but allows for adjustments.

4. Put yourself in their shoes - if you are struggling, chances are the other team is too, in their own way. Instead of allowing your team's struggles to manifest into blame or animosity, get curious, and refer to tips 1-3 to find the source of tension and solve the problem.

It's not easy to collaborate when cross-team roles and responsibilities have not been established. Setting them, ensuring folks are set up for success, staying curious, and coming from a place of empathy can serve to improve how your team collaborates with others.