Significant impact on growth requires collaboration throughout the organization
When asked to recall initiatives that had been especially successful, the executives interviewed for this book touched on a common theme: cross-functional teams. Though it seems obvious that any initiative that significantly increases revenue growth requires participation by multiple functions and organizations, many companies still maintain functionally siloed organizations, information, business processes, and mind-sets. A functional structure simplifies operations but creates costly barriers and complexity. Most importantly, it obscures big-picture company objectives. To reach those, what matters is not the org chart but how employees connect across it.
To encourage collaborative problem solving and execution, changing the mind-set about what constitutes success is the first and most critical step. Employees must be willing and able to take accountability and responsibility to get things done without controlling all the resources required to do it. They need to perceive that their value in the organization stems from their ability to deliver results, not from their scope of control. Though the executive team’s observed behavior sets the tone, older and more entrenched cultures will be difficult to shift. If your company is one of these, plan a multifaceted change effort.
Mark Templeton, the chief executive who has guided Citrix’s growth from $500 million to $11.6 billion (and counting), equates the evolution of a company culture to that of an individual’s mindset: “Younger people view the material aspects as important, while older people think about the impact they are making.” He adds, “Employees need to feel that their importance is based on being a subject matter expert and getting things done, rather than having many direct reports.” To change focus from widening control to increasing impact, Citrix is increasing employee training and personal development. Citrix is also encouraging employees to make horizontal moves within the company. Working in different organizations gives them a bigger-picture perspective and develops relationships across functional lines.
Some companies formalize cross-functional cooperation further. Cisco Systems created councils that spanned business units. The councils met monthly to identify and disseminate best practices from the field to the rest of the company. Large consulting firms often use matrix organizations, where employees belong to multiple industry, geographic, and skill-based communities. These complex matrices work only with clearly prioritized affiliations and guidelines for how to share resources and credit for accomplishments.
Pam Fox Rollin, CEO of IdeaShape and an expert in organizational design and team performance, emphasizes that overcoming functional borders requires unwavering commitment from executive leadership. She suggests four levers that promote a cross-functional focus:
Use new technology to promote and facilitate collaboration. Social networking tools used internally can promote and leverage the skill sets that lie outside employees’ functional roles. They provide a conduit for people to share otherwise underutilized knowledge and experience, a forum for building cross-functional communities, and a tool for locating subject matter experts regardless of where they show up on an org chart. Enterprise wikis and social networking and collaboration tools facilitate cross-functional work and information sharing, while drastically reducing e-mail volume and creating reusable knowledge assets. They also enable cross-functional teams to sprout more frequently and easily, and to be more effective at reaching their objectives and collaborating on whatever matters most to customers.