3 Tips for a smooth Cross-functional execution
It's NOT difficult to interact with a machine. Alteast not yet. People come with different agendas, life experiences, egos, and belief systems that are so deeply ingrained in them. This becomes hard to satisfy and bring a sense of oneness.
Here are a few tricks I learned over my 3 years of experience:
1) You can’t work with people you don’t know yet
Although the interaction is super professional, personal connections go a long way. Most of the time, I ended up requesting favors that took more time from my colleagues, which they would have rejected otherwise.
Personal relationships can be built over lunch, by talking about anything outside of work. People love validation towards all aspects of who they are and not their work front alone. So, take efforts and try getting to know them early on.
2) Understand their priorities
When you serve cross-functionally, you would often find yourself walking up to a member of a team for guidance, information or to join your client meetings. However, you must remember that doing what you say is NOT their main job description. The ability to create that level of harmonious support rests in your hands.
How do you do that? Simple. Learn from them about their deliverables. Understand what is most important to them and the targets they have to achieve. Align that with your own deliverables and relay it back to them. Show them you are empathetic to their needs and make them understand how your work aligns with their goals too!
3) Give credit
Although it was your own hard work that helped you win, give credit to everyone involved in contributing towards your targets/goals. This goes a long way in eliminating ego and competition between teams. I often reached back out to managers and C-level executives to share a few personal words of gratitude for their support.
I wrote several gratitude cards that were available on our floor. We could dedicate one to our colleagues on any occasion they made us feel supported.
Modesty in this type of role can help foster trust and improves the chance of people going beyond their duty to do you a favor when you least expect it. Is there anything else you think should make it to the Top 3? Let me know!
