Creating a Culture of Cross-functional Networking: A Collaborative Leadership Story

In a previous post, we highlighted the importance of breaking down internal boundaries in order to enable an organization to innovate. And we said this takes leaders skilled at creating a culture of cross-company networking and individual staff members skilled at creating internal networks.

Now we bring you the story of a leader who is a role model for cross-company networking. For her privacy and that of her company, we’re calling her Katherine.

Katherine was hired to shore up and staff up a critical department of the business that had been suffering from lack of leadership. She quickly discovered a serious lack of engagement between her department and other departments in the organization – such marketing, finance, and product development. And that lack of cross-functional exchange had been limiting the success of Katherine’s department.

Katherine’s solution? She broke down departmental barriers by building and maintaining a network of relationships to stay connected with her colleagues across the organization.

She began by scheduling introductory meetings with key individuals in each department. She set these up in their offices, rather than hers, to signal that she wanted “to come to your world not summon you to mine.” She’d heard chatter about the other departments and their not-always-positive attitudes toward her department. But she put all that aside and went into each meeting with an open mind.

Katherine was intentional and started each meeting the same way. Exercising empathy, she asked her counterparts to tell her what they were going through. She asked about their pain points. She asked about the areas of their department that had some interdependency with hers. In short, she made an effort to understand what it was like to “walk in their shoes.”

Some of her colleagues resisted meeting with her, perhaps thinking that her purpose was to complain or berate them. But as time went on and those she had met had good things to say about the meetings, the resisters came around and agreed to speak with her.

Having established initial connections, Katherine set up recurring meetings to continue building relationships. There were also occasional lunches, breakfasts, and happy hours. She and her colleagues exchanged information on changes, challenges, and issues. And they just got to know one another, personally as well as professionally.

Katherine established strong relationships that enabled her to get ahead of possible issues and conflicts. She was frequently asked to attend other departments’ meetings. In fact, she became an extended team member of many of them.

She was invited to provide input to decisions, moving her from a reactionary role to collaborative one. As an example, when the finance department was deciding on changes to compensation that would impact her team, she was able to give her perspective and opinion upfront. This helped her team, of course, but it also led to a solid decision that eliminated the need to later backtrack and make changes.

Katherine was also included as a key team member when consultants were brought in to make recommendations on new processes or procedures. The relationships she had established with key executives who were forming these “tiger teams” were the key to her inclusion.

As time went on and Katherine’s responsibilities grew, she began delegating to an appropriate member of her team responsibility for attending other department’s meetings. This gave the team member greater visibility and ensured that their department was always represented “at the table.”

Katherine also had each of her team members set a goal to meet with at least one person from another department every quarter. The staff didn’t like the idea at first. But Katherine had made it easy for them. She’d set the example and meetings like this were becoming part of the way work was getting done in the company. With these get-acquainted meetings and participation in other department’s meetings, her staff realized the value of this internal networking.

As a leader, you can follow Katherine’s example and work to create a culture of cross-functional networking. If you aren’t in a leadership role, you can still contribute to creating a networking culture. It’s as simple as saying to someone in another part of your organization, “Let’s get a coffee and get acquainted.”