The Challenges of Cross Collaboration & How to Solve Them

Collaboration across multiple departments allows companies to leverage a broad range of skills and increase innovation. However, cross-functional teams are prone to failure, with research indicating that 75% of them fall short of expectations. To avoid potential pitfalls, companies need to address several challenges. One of the most significant challenges is goal conflicts, where different departments have different objectives even though they work together under the same organization. This can cause tension, distraction, and hinder teamwork. To address this, teams should set out a clear project charter that outlines goals, responsibilities and deadlines, and ensures that they're all in agreement. Another challenge is insufficient support mechanisms, where teams lack the necessary leadership and governance that provide oversight to mitigate risks. To address this issue, teams require executive oversight and support, which includes cross-functional support that can identify areas of risk before they escalate. Inflexibility is another common challenge that can derail a project. Often, projects need to change tack due to changing market dynamics or organizational priorities, and this can be a significant challenge for cross-functional teams. One way to address this challenge is to have regular project reviews that determine if the project's initial goals are still valid and how closely aligned the current project is with them. Lastly, the silo mentality can also hinder cross-functional teams by limiting communication and information sharing. As such, full management buy-in is essential to ensure that everyone is committed to teamwork. This can involve getting department heads together to address grievances and ensure they give full support to the project.