Tip: Create a Cross-Integrated Group
Often times, we need to create a functional, collaborative, and aligned team with the team members on our team. At other times, we need to create a functional, collaborative, and aligned “team of teams,” which sets up this week’s tip.
How do you get two teams to work together when they share common responsibilities? This is not an uncommon scenario, especially in larger organizations that are experiencing change. Instead of restructuring, the answer is this week’s tip: create a cross-integrated group of individuals from the teams that need to work together.
This tip comes from an interview I conducted for my book on eliminating territorial thinking and unleashing the power of teams in organizations. Heather Gahir, Ph. D. and Vice President of Talent Strategy and Organizational Development at Jackson National Life Insurance Company shared that “In my experience, [creating a cross-integrated group] works best and is faster than waiting for the results of a restructuring.”
The purpose of this cross-integrated group is to solve problems for the two teams. For example, if a member of one team needs access to a resource and can’t get it, they can put it in the queue for this cross-integrated group to solve. If the group cannot solve the issue, they can bump it up to a higher power or the teams themselves.
A simple, quick solution.
Go build a functional, collaborative, aligned team [of teams]!
