Cross functional teams are groups consisting of people from different functional areas of the company – for example, marketing, product, sales, and customer success. These can be working groups, where each member belongs to their functional team as well as the cross functional team, or they can be the primary structure of your organization.
Cross functional teams help organizations put their customers first, by encouraging effective communication across teams.
Cross-functional teams are a competitive advantage for an organization.
They’re like superhero team-ups, where different individuals with different sets of unique abilities will work together for one common purpose. Every organization has potential resources scattered within in the form of various departments—HR, Marketing, Sales, Production, Purchasing, Accounting, Research, etc. Bring them all together and here’s what you will get:
- The team will be more productive.
- The team will improve coordination and communication.
- The team will span organizational boundaries.
- The team will lead to better decision making.
- The team will improve problem-solving.
- The team will deduce the overall project management cycle time.
Tips To Create Top-Performing Cross-Functional Teams
- Bring a little diversity in your organization
- Keep the goals aligned
- Include influencers/subject matter experts
- Stop over-relying on meetings (let people bump into each other and chat)
- Embrace automation and technological advancements
- Ensure psychological safety
Source: rework.withgoogle.com