You will most likely work with cross-functional teams as a project manager. A cross-functional team comprises people with diverse backgrounds, types of expertise, and job functions. Even though these team members have different skillsets and roles and may even work in various departments, they all work towards the same goal: completing your project.
Members of a cross-functional team are sometimes referred to as “T-shaped professionals.” They know how to collaborate and innovate with people in different job functions and departments, but they also contribute their areas of expertise. Each cross-functional team member brings a unique perspective and experience to the project, bringing different ideas and strategies.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these concepts.
Clarify objectives
When working with cross-functional teams, it is critical to ensure that each team member understands their role, how they support one another, and the project’s common goals. Setting clear goals for the team and ensuring that the team understands those goals are critical. Avoid unnecessary details and explanations by being direct and concise. When communicating task or project goals, include vital information such as budget, deadlines, quality requirements, and critical resources.
Encourage your team members to ask questions and clarify information to ensure they understand the task and project goals. It will be your responsibility to constantly check in with your team to ensure that they are all working towards their goals, staying on track, and completing quality work. Cross-functional teams may work in different departments, be in different physical locations, and be led by different people. Still, all team members collaborate with the project manager to support the current project. Because your project may be competing with other priorities, communicating clearly and frequently with your team—and vice versa—allows you to identify any potential issues or concerns before they arise.
Recruit team members with the necessary skills
Working with cross-functional teams as a Project Manager is challenging hence it is critical to have team members with the appropriate skillsets for each project function. If you’re building an aeroplane with five engineers but no mechanics, you’re missing a critical component of your cross-functional team. As a project manager, you must help ensure that your team has the right people with the right skill sets to complete the project successfully. Later in this programme, we’ll go over some tools that can help you identify the skill sets required to complete your project tasks.
Track Progress
Showing your team how far they’ve come helps to keep them motivated. Take the time to track and communicate project progress to the entire cross-functional team. This allows everyone to see the big picture and recognise their contribution to the project. Meeting key milestones, completing project tasks, and meeting project goals on time and within budget are all ways to gauge progress.
Communicate with your team members regularly to check on their progress. Inquire if they anticipate finishing on time. If not, inquire as to how you can assist them in succeeding. Document when tasks and goals are completed to keep track of the team’s progress throughout the project and inform your team members whether or not the project is on track. Ensure that you communicate any successes, delays, or issues to the team so that they are aware of how the project is progressing. Keeping everyone up to date is critical to the project’s success and will make your life much easier while you work with cross-functional teams as a Project Manager.
Recognise team and individual efforts
When working with cross-functional teams, specific skills might be recognised more than others. Everyone may praise a mechanic for solving a problem within the project, while the finance member who sourced the funding may be forgotten.
As a project manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that each member of your cross-functional team understands the importance of their contributions at every stage of the project. You’ve learned the value of building relationships with stakeholders, and you should do the same with your cross-functional team members. Understanding what makes your team members feel supported, providing and receiving feedback, and being aware of each individual’s background, personal identifiers, and work style can all help to mediate some of the differences between team members.
Key takeaway
Being able to communicate clearly with team members, clarify project goals, recruit team members with the appropriate skills, measure team progress, and recognise team members’ efforts is an essential part of your role as the project manager. It is critical to the success of your project.
