Any successful company is built upon strong interdepartmental communication and meaningful relationships among its employees. While we have spoken about having good friends at work, we haven’t spoken about how to increase cross departmental relationships.
Cross departmental relationship refers to a cross functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. A team is simply a group of people from the different departments across a business working on solving a specific problem or achieving a specific objective. A strong united team can substantially improve an organization’s hiring and marketing successes, its return on investment, sales productivity and the top line growth.
Here’s how you can improve the cross departmental relationships in your company!
Make sharing a part of the company culture
Before cross department sharing becomes a problem, make sharing information a part of the company culture. If people are able to collaborate on small projects or share important information from the beginning, working together on bigger projects becomes easier.
Develop and promote a common and shared language
Jargon can also be a barrier in promoting cross department groups. Having a common language that everyone understands and can relate with to join in on the conversation makes it that much easier for people to speak with each other.
Create a bridge
While the enemy of my enemy can be a potential friend, a friend of a friend can definitely become a friend. Have one person who is commonly known in two groups or departments. This person can be the bridge between both the groups and help break the ice to work well with each other.
Get involved
Have open discussions regarding the work being carried on by all the departments. Mixed meetings will not only open the stage for more ideas but will also allow the managers and heads to meet and exchange ideas. Let the creative team sit down with the design team to come up with the perfect copy together instead of having to remake the creative over and over again.
Shared dataspace
Social media and technology have come a long away allowing for multiple people to create one common group. Create a shared dataspace for all the relevant people to share ideas, creatives, tips, hacks and other information that can be used by all. The shared dataspace can also become the common hub for everyone to seek help or just mingle.
Set examples
Instead of just asking people to work well with each other, show them how well the team members can collaborate. Good relationships between the heads of the company can have a significant influence on all the employees as well. Allow the leaders of the company to set the tone collaborative culture by building relationships with project managers in other departments.
Celebrations
A sure shot way to bring people together is by celebrating wins and milestones, even small ones, together. Parties are a great place to socialize and helps cultivate trust and respect among team members from different departments. Small wins can help improve the morale of the company, build motivation and sustain momentum as well as break down social barriers.
How well do you collaborate with other department members in your company? Let us know in the comments below.
