Unity makes strength, especially when it becomes necessary to pick up the brains of multiple experts with different competences in order to develop very complicated projects. But without clear communication, it is highly probable that the attempt to unite your experts will fail. Let’s see how to reach an adequate level of communication in cross team.
When an organization grows, the time to get experts from different departments and with different competences to work together comes along. This is often the only way to drive innovation and get fresher perspectives. However, it works only if your experts are able to communicate and cooperate effectively. Unfortunately, according to a research of the university of Harvard 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional. So, it isn’t a piece of cake. These five tips will help you to set up cross team collaboration properly.
Choose carefully the leaders
According to the above-mentioned research, the rate of success unexpectedly rises to 76% when it has been chosen as leader a top level executive. Therefore, the quality of managers that are in charge of the project matters a lot. This is the reason why the choice of a good leader is essential for the success of your project.
Help team members to create good relations among themselves
Mutual trust is the key –factor when it comes to team success, and creating good relations among the members of a team is the golden path to build trust. Among the several ways to achieve this goal, we recommend:
- Utilize HD video conferencing to arrange engaging meetings where your team members can know each other. R-HUB`s TurboMeeting servers (http://www.rhubcom.com) offer you an affordable, cutting-edge solution that is very easy to manage and can host up to 3000 participants per chat room. The level of security is top, and it is given full support to many important functionalities, from telepresence to real time collaboration, from document to remote desktop sharing.
- Host some social events where the members of your team can meet in person, socialize and play games. Playing games is a tested way to build a team.
- Create a mini book with the bios and the photos of your team members, methods of contacts, and any other relevant information.
Create a team chart
A team chart is anything else than a document where the purpose, mission, objectives, roles, expectations and schedule of your team are laid down. The creation of the team charter should be the first task that the team do, in order to give to everybody the possibility to negotiate with the other members of the team its role and expectations.
Use a project management app
Applications like Asana or Trello help everyone to post messages or to ask questions and share updates. In this way, your team has a comfortable tool to communicate always at hand.
Use and reward milestones
Milestones are very useful not only to organize and divide the work of your team, but also to reward and motivate people. There is nothing better than being honored for achieving a goal. Wise leaders will also invite the members of their teams to recognize the mates they appreciate. Peer recognition helps to build even stronger bonds in your team.
In conclusion, achieving cross team collaboration is difficult, but not impossible. Remember that good communication is king. In order to achieve this goal, tools like R-HUB`s TurboMeeting servers and project management apps will be extremely helpful.