Last updated Feb 22, 2024
Imagine a large, airy meeting room with numerous small conversations going on: people are asking questions, leaning over shared screens, and making notes. The atmosphere is energized and upbeat. Everyone seems glad to be there, relaxed but purposeful. After a few moments, someone calls the meeting to order and presents a project timeline. It’s a large project, requiring staff in collaboration across departments, and the goal feels ambitious… but also, doable. You’re seeing a vision of cross-departmental collaboration in action, and with the right structure, culture, and leadership, it can be more than a vision. Let’s look at the strategies you’ll need to bring this kind of interdepartmental collaboration in your organization.
Defining the role of cross-departmental collaboration
Before we dive into the specifics, let’s define cross-departmental collaboration. It’s the process of different organizational units working together to achieve common goals.
In the world of education, interdepartmental collaboration means different teams and academic disciplines working together. Of course, each department will still have their own goals. But with collaborative efforts, people across departments can do more to improve the overall educational experience. This type of collaboration doesn’t happen automatically; you have to put certain strategies in place so that working together becomes the norm.
Key strategies for fostering collaboration across teams
- Clear communication: Set up a clear and open line of communication between teams. Encourage regular meetings, both formal and informal, and set up communication systems that are shared by all departments.
- Shared goals: Define and communicate shared goals that benefit the organization as a whole. When everyone is working toward a common purpose, collaboration becomes more natural.
- Collaborative tools: If you want interdepartmental collaboration, make it easy to do. Friction happens when information is kept in separate silos and teams don’t have a streamlined way to share resources and work together. Put tools in place for communication, file sharing, status updates, and discussion.
- Clear roles and responsibilities: For collaborative projects and cross departmental work, assign roles and work clearly. Each person involved should know their own responsibilities and what the other stakeholders are managing. Clarity reduces confusion and minimizes frustration and overlaps or gaps in the work.
- Leadership support: Help department leaders see the value of contributing to shared goals and making collaboration the norm. Leaders need to give clear guidance so staff members don’t feel divided between departmental priorities and collaboration between departments.
- Recognition and rewards: Make recognition a regular part of the process: first, recognize the workloads and challenges each person is handling. Second, recognize their efforts to make cross departmental collaboration a reality. Rewards for completed projects and goals reached can include incentives, bonuses, and acknowledgment.
- Regular feedback: Part of good communication is giving and receiving feedback. Establish a pattern of reviewing projects to learn from what worked and what didn’t. Make ongoing discussion a regular part of the collaborative process. Feedback works best when it’s frequent and specific, relevant to current tasks and goals, rather than “saved up” for the future.
- Conflict resolution: Disagreements are part of teamwork, and can often lead to better solutions and creativity. To keep disagreements from escalating into arguments, create a framework for addressing and resolving conflicts that may arise during collaboration.
Overcoming challenges in cross-departmental collaboration
Even with key strategies, you’ll face challenges with collaboration between departments. But there are solutions to these challenges, too!
Communication barriers
Often, collaboration may involve partners from different departments or even from outside your organization. Different stakeholders have their own schedules and projects outside of the collaboration, and communicating those can get complicated.
- Solution: Secure communication and scheduling transparency that’s accessible for every stakeholder.
Conflicting priorities
Academic disciplines often differ in what they see as most essential. Researchers see the value in new lab equipment, while librarians prioritize updating the book collection. Administrators and schedulers try to juggle all the preferences and priorities for sharing classroom space and other resources.
- Solution: Get all the factors in one place and use visual scheduling to allocate space and resource use.
Resource allocation
Differing priorities leads to conflict over the resources that are available, and how budget should be spent. In a research-intensive university, for example, departments such as chemistry and biology may compete for access to well-equipped facilities.
- Solution: Establish a fair and transparent scheduling system to avoid resource conflicts.
Creating a culture of collaboration and communication
The strategies above will help bridge the gaps that prevent collaboration across departments. Once the bridge is built, you need people to start walking across it! It might take a little hand-holding and a lot of encouragement at first. But the more you invest in culture that values collaboration, the more the bridge will be used.
Building trust and transparency among teams
Good systems help create transparency. For example, if it’s easy to see when and where a shared resource is being used, anyone from any department can check availability for their own needs. And transparency helps built trust among individuals and teams.
Cross departmental collaboration examples
One thing to remember: collaboration can happen across teams, across departments, and with stakeholders outside of the organization. Collaboration can range in scope and method. Sometimes it’s a few individuals working on a project, for a limited time. Sometimes it’s an entire community coming together for a special events. In other situations, collaboration is an entire organization finding ways to work together and reach big goals.
Here are some examples of collaboration:
- An embedded calendar that shows resource availability.
- A group scheduling tool for dozens of organizers.
- Working with external vendors on deployments.
- An easy way to share studio space and equipment.
- A calendar for media bookings at World Economic Forum.
- Research teams sharing lab space.
Effective communication strategies for cross-departmental projects
When departments are used to functioning independently, you’ll need to establish guidelines for good communication between departments. Put relevant strategies like these in place for cross departmental collaboration:
- Set up a system for regular progress reporting.
- Use shared calendars for project timelines.
- Have team members provide updates on their work and share key milestones.
- Brainstorm potential obstacles to common goals.
- Make project documentation and resources accessible to all stakeholders.
Empowering staff to participate in collaborative initiatives
To encourage collaboration, make sure staff members have the knowledge and the capability to move forward with shared projects. You may need to issue an organizational directive, and encourage leaders to do the same within their own departments, to encourage interdepartmental collaboration. Put the needed tools in place and provide onboarding so folks know how to connect, share ideas, and start working together.
Maximizing the benefits of cross-departmental collaboration
When information is siloed, resources are hoarded, and departments are separated, there’s bound to be inefficiency and frustration. One of the great effects of cross departmental collaboration is improved efficiency, along with more creative solutions.
Identifying and leveraging individual strengths and expertise
Your people are always your greatest asset. When they’re able to move with ease between teams and departments, everyone benefits. Make it a priority to identify skills and strengths. Then leaders can assign tasks and roles that align with each person’s expertise. Form teams with complementary strengths and free people to do their best work.
Improving cross-functional teamwork and coordination
Cross-departmental collaboration can happen when you’ve built the necessary structure and fostered a culture where teamwork can thrive. There will always be challenges when people work together, but with good leadership and smart, flexible tools, you can help your organization overcome the obstacles and achieve more, together.
FAQs about cross-departmental collaboration
How can cross-departmental collaboration be fostered?
Foster interdepartmental collaboration by putting the necessary structure in place, training teams on helpful tools, establishing common goals, and nurturing a culture of teamwork.
What are the benefits of cross-departmental collaboration?
Collaboration can lead to improved efficiency, better use of individual skills, enhanced creativity, smarter resource allocation, and reduced friction between teams and departments.
How does cross-departmental collaboration improve communication?
Cross-departmental collaboration improves communication by breaking down silos, encouraging transparency between teams, and enabling better information sharing and problem-solving.
