How to Support Team Members in Collaborating Across the Organization
I’ve had several client conversations on cross-organization collaboration over the last few weeks. This HBR article highlights the importance of cross-organization collaboration and the potential risks associated with navigating silos. The good news is that leaders play a key role in minimizing the risks and maximizing the impact.
I have experienced the power of cross-organization collaboration in achieving client outcomes and organization goals, creating innovation, increasing visibility on career paths and learning opportunities, and building my brand.
However, it is not without challenges. As described in the article, navigating silos can create increased burnout and negative social behaviors. Leaders must purposefully support team members who are working across silos and functions in the organization. In my experience, when reporting to one manager but working on projects overseen by another manager, priorities and styles can be conflicting. Navigating this can be very difficult for team members. A client asked me this week how they should determine when to jump in and act vs. let the team member work through challenges themselves. Some of the tips from the article and from my personal experience include:
Align on clear expectations and priorities Conduct ongoing conversations with each team member to establish and gauge clarity on priorities and identify real-time opportunities to minimize confusion or frustration.
Develop strong mental fitness Help team members develop strong self-awareness and mental fitness. Understanding and managing your saboteurs, or unhelpful thinking patterns, is key. For example, one of my saboteurs is Pleaser. This creates the risk of saying yes to too much and not wanting to let anyone down. Knowing this was my tendency, I had to work to rewire my thinking patterns by taking ownership of the situation, purposefully establishing boundaries with stakeholders, practicing saying no, asking for help from my managers in negotiating competing priorities, and committing to personal recovery time.
Actively coach Find everyday coaching opportunities with your team members. Ask questions such as
How are you approaching this?
What are you learning?
What successes are you having?
How are your strengths helping you collaborate across the organization?
How can I help you?
When a team member is struggling, ask “How might you be contributing to the issue or getting in your own way?” Note- This is a good way to bring in the concept of saboteurs and building the team member’s Positive Intelligence. Have them take the saboteur assessment and become aware of how their thinking patterns could be getting in the way. Work with them to establish more positive and productive thinking patterns and habits that enable effective collaboration.
Share your network Connect your team members to individuals who have successfully collaborated and navigated silos. Help your team gather new and open perspectives to bring even more learning and ideas to cross-organization collaboration opportunities.
Encourage self-care and recovery time Recognize the potential for burnout among team members engaged in cross-silo collaboration. Be vigilant in watching for excessive after-hours work, changes in work habits or behavior, and changes in interpersonal interactions. Additionally, emphasize the importance of breaks and recovery time, allowing team members to disengage from work during non-working hours. Model this behavior yourself.
Encourage and welcome team members to speak up and come to you for help Create strong psychological safety by sharing vulnerable stories about your own challenges in navigating cross-organization collaboration and normalize the need to ask for help.
Refrain from jumping in too early. But, intervene swiftly when needed Maximize these growth and stretch opportunities with your team members. Ask them what they need and how you can support them. Through frequent communication, notice when a team member is stuck and when circumstances out of the employee’s control (e.g., policy, senior leadership conflicts) are impacting their performance and well-being. Trust your instinct when you believe that your team member is not set up for success and they have already taken the right actions to address it. This is the time to speak with the other managers involved and maintain ongoing transparency with your team member.
Notice patterns and recommend systemic changes Recommend and sponsor systemic policy and process changes. Use your voice to bring people together and advocate for more productive behaviors that can better enable cross organization collaboration.
Reward and recognize cross-organization collaboration Celebrate team members’ cross-organization accomplishments and new ideas for removing silos. Publicly and privately praise these accomplishments and advocate for formal rewards and recognition.