How do you set communication norms for cross-functional teams?

Understanding your team's communication preferences is crucial for effective leadership. As a Senior Manager in Business Intelligence, I've seen how personalized communication profiles can significantly reduce misunderstandings and increase project efficiency. Remember, a happy team is a productive team! 🚀 #Leadership #Teamwork #CommunicationStyles

Communication norm should include: - Regular check-in - All inputs are heard with no judgement but data driven, pro/con given. - Feedback is is required: agree/dont agree/no comment/with comment.

Something that has worked for me is to set up formal communication (regular meetings, weekly email update, individual status meetings) but also take advantage of informal communication. Take time every day to reach out to members of the team to check in individually. If you are in the same location get the team together for a spontaneous walk to Starbuck's and have the project buy everyone whatever they want. Find ways to connect outside of the formal channels. One thing to note, make sure you listen. Don't do all the talking, anytime you are talking you should be asking a question or sharing something quick about yourself to build connection but a vast majority of the talking should be from the team!

1. Tools - Not all communication is created equal. E.g. SMS, email, Slack, Teams, Zoom, etc. And let's not forget WhatsApp if you lead a team, like I have, in India or Southeast Asia. So, decide on the tools(s), and then make sure everyone is on board. Also, simplify. Don't deploy 6 different tools when 2 will do the trick. Balance efficiency with complexity and ease of adoption and use. 2. Security - ensure no confidential information is transmitted a/c non-approved platforms/tools. 3. Respect - make sure every member is aware of who they are communicating with and what TZ they're in. Add a disclaimer (e.g. email) that doesn't burden the recipient to respond at 1am local time.

Each team has different goals and demands. First understand that before setting up anything. Also have a workshop for people who will be collaborating at a regular basis. Their feedback will help setting this up.

Finding the optimum communication approach is tricky. My personal communication style massively evolved during my career, also owing to the level of seniority. I never imagined 20 years ago I would ever be so direct in my communication style, but owing to the abundance of news stories, e-mails, MS teams chat messages and (critical though) 1:1 live chats plus the urgency to get THE critical message across in a very limited timeframe, I try to stay direct and keep my communication the essential minimum. Clear communication on the to do's and even more on the role each member of the team plays is what my team members expect to receive.

Cross-functional teams operate akin to an assembly line with various specialized stations, each contributing to a collective goal. Within this dynamic, it's vital to proactively communicate if a teams' or individual's advancement or lack thereof might affect others, ensuring a smoother workflow across the board. Moreover, these teams must actively identify and articulate interdependencies among their tasks, making them visible and transparent to all involved, enabling each unit to understand how their work influences and relies on the contributions of others. In summary, the communication norms should emphasize the prompt flagging of issues and highlighting interdependencies to achieve collective goals efficiently.

To have a great cross functional communication, it is very important that as an organization there is already a culture of collaboration and camaraderie. This means there is openness, inclusiveness and forgiveness already built into your work environment making working together between teams either on specific projects or ongoing basis very easy. I would therefore say that senior management needs to first focus on creating a strong collaborative culture valuing each department for what they bring to the table.

You will have different obstacles if you have a remote or hybrid team. One of the most important tools is a set of core hours. During these core hours, you can have meetings or chats across time zones and schedules. This agreement can alleviate a lot of scheduling stress. Second, ensure the agreed response times consider work hours, not just hours on the clock. 6 six hour response time might seem reasonable until you realize some of the team is sleeping 5 of those 6 hours.

If you want your norms to be adopted, it's critical that everyone follow them. You can't have one official set of rules for employees and another unspoken one for leadership. People ultimately learn from what you do, not from what you say or the rules you set. Your communication norms are only going to be as effective as your modeling.

Figuring out a way to establish trust among teams is really important. Then communication will flow through easily. It's all about being transparent, on time and not holding back. Trusting the teams that they all need to be on the same page whether things are going well or not.

Daily standups with either the full team (if not too large) or by groups is necessary. If you can't be there, have a representative. If you do several groups, invite a team member from the other groups to be there to help remove roadblocks.

The challenge with cross-functional teams comes on maintaining the right amount of synergy and transparency among the members. To do that you need establish right amount of connects with set agenda. In my experience, having a weekly coordinated connect with all team members wherein every team member gets a chance to speak-up and share their work details has helped. It also gives them a chance to call-out for help and support. The rest of the team also gets to understand each member’s work and offer their support to each other with tasks as per their expertise. Another connect that has always been fruitful is a monthly fun connect wherein we talk about anything other than work, play virtual games and just have fun.

As a leader of cross-functional distributed teams, I have found asynchronous communication tools extremely effective. By encouraging team members to use Teams groups or chat instead of emails, everyone's voice is heard, regardless of location, local time, or schedule. This approach promotes psychological safety and allows team members to work at their own pace and contribute comfortably. Overall, this strategy has proven to be a successful way to lead remote teams.