Harnessing the Value of Cross-Functional Discussions

Do you ever wonder how to get your message across to co-workers in a different department?  Do you have to work really hard to understand why someone else is talking about whatever it is they're describing to you?  How can companies help people communicate with each other, in a way that incorporates everyone's knowledge and talents without turning everyone bald from pulling out their own hair?

Planning or working with people from different departments of an organization can be tough; and it's not just because you might be competing for scarce resources.  Almost always, people from one department genuinely like and respect the people from other departments in the organization.  But to really be able to collaborate -- work on something together -- people need more than appreciation.  They have to understand what the other person is saying and why it matters.  How does one get that common understanding?

One suggestion for strategic planning or process improvement projects, is to focus on a composite customer to creates an 'us' and 'them' mentality with everyone in the company on one home team tasked with making the customer's team really, really happy.
Beginning with  a history of changes in the customer's world and how those changes impact the sales process, everyone in the company starts seeing how they can help the team.  If R&D and engineering learn about the changes in the customer's mileau and how salespeople have to adopt new strategies, the engineers devise ways to accelerate their own contributions (prototypes, specs development) for the sales people to use.

When the sales people learn how prices are calculated they see why cutting prices to make sales isn't helpful and revenue goes up.  When interested people from IT learn about the biggest quality issue, they just might imagine a solution.  It’s almost magical; people say they had no idea they could do so much so well.

Here are four more examples of ways to bridge the language divide between the science-minded and the management-minded folks. 

1.        A chemical manufacturing and distribution company wanted a strategic planning retreat because, “even though they were good, they could be better.”  All departments including R&D, Sales, Hazmat, Engineering, Accounting, Production, and Customer Service were included.   I used the order process from solicitation through fulfillment and payment as a vehicle for identifying opportunities for improvement.  Everyone participated in refining the procedures without regard for who “owned” that process step.  The company resolved two long-standing problems, saw major change in a third, and realized significant increase in revenues in ten weeks.

2.       In a heavy manufacturing plant, inconsistent understanding and implementation of LEAN manufacturing principles was alleviated through institution of a plant newsletter, with Single Point Lessons from the LEAN Implementation Team. Displaying a Scorecard of Improvements gave prominent credit to work groups.  One-on-one coaching of individual personnel to present their ideas and accomplishments at open meetings also helped personalize the incremental changes.  Further, Six Sigma Black Belts gave presentations of their projects with anecdotes that included people stories along with statistics.  The plant achieved ISO certification on its first audit and won the Shingo Prize for Excellence.

3.     In another example from manufacturing, a group of Six Sigma Black Belts wanted an expensive instructor to take them to their next level.  I instructed them on the purpose and how-to of writing a business case that would demonstrate benefit to the plant.  Their case was presented to the Controller who agreed to their request immediately, leading to significant cost savings in the plant.

4.       A plant in a sparsely populated area in Western Ohio had been through a lot of downsizing and had low employee morale and engagement.  Even the managers were discouraged.  HR had initiated a morale boosting program, but it was slow going.   I designed a planning retreat for all the managers, including Engineering, HR, Production, Sourcing, etc.  The managers took on roles in a simulation to gain awareness of the day-to-day pressures experienced within the structure of hierarchical levels of the plant.  (That's right - specific pressures are structured into our organizations.)  The experience opened the eyes of the managers to shift their focus and see that they had new choices.  The outcome was renewed morale and engagement of the managers, and increased enthusiasm on the part of management to invite participation in problem solving in the plant and between the plant and corporate.  Morale improved over time.

Early stage companies need strategic and business planning just like more mature organizations.  In their cases, it may be too early to have representatives at the table of all of the roles that will be needed in the future.   The planning process still should be informed by science and engineering, marketing, business management and human systems knowledge.  New companies can strengthen their planning process by inviting a few outside experts to the table for part of the planning so decisions are based on real world data and know-how.   

It is possible to realize the benefits and satisfaction of working with cross-functional groups.  These companies and others are modeling a way of conducting business that organizes people, data and business principles for more companies to emulate.


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