Power Dynamics
The fourth post in ChaiTime's paid-subscriber series on Cross-Functional Teams (CFTs). This one deep-dives into Will Gaps that are a barrier to success for CFTs.
I remember the first few days of most of my cross-functional team experiences very well. Not for their smoothness or brilliance. But for their chaos and confusion.
The usual flow seems to be this: executives find a cross-functional problem. Some folks from each area are chosen for the cross-functional team. People are selected by either being nominated or volunteering. The team is set up, then left alone to do great things. But more often than not, they fail.
This week we’ve explored a few reasons why cross-functional teams fail. These include:
Skill gap - Team members lack the skills to succeed in cross-functional teams.
Will gap - Team members lack the motivation to succeed on cross-functional teams.
Today we’ll add another reason to the list of why cross-functional teams fail:
Hill gap - The team faces environmental factors like bad leadership or poor structure.
Your series roadmap as usual here!
Who’s in charge here?
Here is how the first day went for one of the best cross-functional teams I worked on. At our very first meeting, a woman welcomed us all and had an agenda ready. The agenda had time for us to introduce ourselves and do some icebreakers. In later meetings, she gently nudged and questioned us. In the end, we all had the same goal. Throughout my work on this team, I had complete confidence that this woman was our lead. I'd often ask her for advice as we worked together.
I was surprised to find, while writing her a glowing peer review for performance review season, that she was the most junior team member!
This experience shows that the organizational structure in a cross-functional team can be very different from conventional org structures.
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