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Cross Functional Partnership
The Innovation Division of a large financial services organization wanted to improve their performance when working cross-functionally. The departments were said to be lacking in partnership and conflict and negativity had reduced trust and effectiveness.
Issues
- Little to no partnership
- Active disagreements between divisions
- Departmental work arounds to avoid cross-functional work
- Increased stress load for area leaders
- Competition against each other
Solutions
- Instruct half-day Myers Briggs Type Indicator team building course
- Division wide assessment that included surveys, behavioral assessments, interviews and brainstorming sessions, led to ongoing:
- Employee Pulse Surveys
- A Shared Accountability Scorecard to foster partnership
- Meeting review: led to reduction in meetings, increase in meeting productivity
- Behavioral Agreements
- Process Improvements to two major processes that were creating tension
Results
- Established a set of behavioral agreements between departments
- Developed a Shared Accountability Scorecard to track and measure the most important metrics
- Improved employee engagement
- Increased communication and collaboration through more effective meetings
“The spirit of partnership must be the compass that guides how we work together.”