Do you find yourself struggling to maximize the productivity of your team? Collaboration between multiple departments requires a lot more than mere cooperation. There has to mutual respect, shared vision, and complete understanding of what role each plays in a project. The singular goal of all departments must be to achieve fantastic business outcomes and par excellence customer experience.
To achieve this end, here are some guidelines that may help you:
Context
In order for all teams to feel committed to a project and to motivate each, it is imperative to give them complete understanding and visibility of how they can impact the future of the projects or the big picture. A holistic view with a singular goal will unite all the departments and encourage them to work in unison rather than division.
Create Empathy
You need to create empathy in each team member to be able to understand what challenges every individual faces. For this purpose, encourage the teams to walk in each other’s shoes for at least a day so they have an opportunity to view things from each other’s perspective.
If teams are to collaborate smoothly and efficiently, they need to be able to understand the difficulties and constraints that each department puts up with.
Common Language
If you allow departments to develop their specific language and jargons, you will only proceed in alienating the departments more. This way several confusions will arise and discord will spread. To avoid this from happening, introduce a common language, especially the onboarding process of new employees.
Encourage the separate teams to pick up the basic terms their departments use so that effective communication strengthens. Most industries have also introduced the use of technical language, which is also a strengthening element.