The art of making cross - boundary teams work

Pallavi Jha

Technology has enabled businesses to get more globally connected than ever before, allowing organisations to join forces across professions, geographies and industries. These collaborations are a great way to enhance innovation and cross pollinate ideas and competencies to get a task done efficiently. The efficacy of task-teams, however,  greatly depends upon the symphony among the diverse experts that come together for a project.

However, this is not a cakewalk for the managers heading such teams.  When it comes to implementation, teaming across knowledge boundaries is a tough row to hoe. Such team projects could have built-in hurdles because of varied communication styles, cultures, and professional standards. The natural tendency of organisations is to optimise locally  — within a department or business unit rather than collaborating for a greater cause. Mostly, the sum of the parts doesn’t resort to a high-performing whole. Getting people to advance across boundaries usually requires a crisis approach or a consistent assertive push from the managers at the helm of affairs. Here are some basics that can make team collaboration productive:

Lead from the front

The feature of leadership as a symbolic role, one titled as being “in charge” is surely relevant in cross-boundary collaborations. However, the facet of leadership that doesn’t essentially need a definite position — the act of leading — moves to the forefront in cross-boundary collaborations. Leading is the act of acquiring keen followers for a sequence of actions when the way forward is ambiguous. In cross-boundary projects, members often avail great discretion when it comes to how much they will actually contribute to the pie. Managers who make the choice to participate compelling, make all the difference.

Work on challenges

It has been noticed that team members generally bump into the following three cross-boundary challenges:0

• Difficulty in communication.
• Difficulty in co-ordinating their contributions. 
• Difficulty in developing a shared mission and so, a diluted collaborative problem framing.

Whether the project crosses functions, organisations or industry sectors, to ensure a longing totality, the manager has to ensure that the following key questions are addressed:

Have the basics of success been addressed?

The very basic to succeed in any project is a clear purpose wrapped with goals and objectives to ignite energy, passion, commitment, and direction. Ensuring adequate resources with both managerial and technical competencies come second. 

Does the reason of collaboration motivate?

Partnerships that cross major boundaries and contain multiple systems need extra effort. Effective collaborations have clarity about the extra value generated.

How are the stakes shared?

The line between the meaning of collaboration and notions of coordinating, cooperating, or contributing is real thin. Collaboration is an all-inclusive phenomenon that includes sharing resources, sharing risks, and sharing of tangible and intangible rewards.

Build tools

Collaborative platforms on social media or process workshops are some of the tools to help build and maintain teams that operate across organisational boundaries. Of course, these tools need to be complemented with shared goals, supervising structures and management processes to implement changes , monitor and celebrate progress.

The advantages of major collaborations across boundaries can be abundant. To set the stage, there has to be a firm handle on the project basics, a strong motive for collaboration, a grip on how stakes are shared, persuasive leadership in place, and willingness to put the best relationship skills in action.

— The writer is Chairperson and MD, Dale Carnegie of India

Success stories

In an ambitious smart city project, individuals from some multinational organisations, local government bodies, and start-ups formed a consortium to develop a run-down Paris district into a technologically and ecologically smart locality. One more classic example of economic progress comprises authorities in marketing, economics, finance, agriculture and supply chain management from Coco-Cola, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United States Agency for International Development, and an NGO Technoserve, who joined hands on a mass impact project to enhance Haitian mango farmers' occupational practices and incomes. Each of these cases of innovation points to the significant benefits of having a synchronised cross boundary team. Members of task-oriented teams are people who need to have a thorough understanding of issues across their own knowledge boundaries. These provisional groups have a fluid membership to enable them to develop swiftly into a high-performing team to take on an unfamiliar project. This empowering initiative helps people with diverse abilities and organisational affiliations fuse together in flexible and temporary arrangements in the pursuit of innovation.