Cross-functional teams are a collaborative effort between different departments in your company. More often than not, these teams grow organically from the seams of your business, and create opportunities for growth that a more strictly segmented strategy might not allow for. When they’re working well, both teams should benefit from the other, and might even achieve something nobody had planned for. Recently, a team comprised of FoxDen engineers and ReadyTalk salespeople produced a lot of great results.
Improve sales enablement
The team originally grew as a tool to help salespeople make the best possible impression on prospective clients. The engineers provide occasional technical support, and are able to answer any tech specific questions the prospect might have.
Jeff Stephens, a software engineer, played a crucial role in the closing stage of a recent demo. The prospect asked specific questions about the technology, like how much data would be consumed by 100 hours of FoxDen calling. “It turned into a pretty cool dialogue,” said Jeff, “Both the customer and the salespeople seemed appreciative to have a more technical conversation.”
Improve insight and customization
The river flows both ways. During another demo, a prospect expressed interest in a feature that FoxDen wasn’t currently capable of. Zach McGaughey, another FoxDen engineer, was able to work the feature into a prototype without a hitch.
Not only was sales able to showcase the product’s utility and a responsive and thoughtful team, but the engineers gained valuable feedback about what customers wanted and needed in the product. Cross-functional teams can often be the result of an obvious symbiosis between different parts of your business, like in this case. But they often produce a few unexpected results as well.
Get info you never imagined
A thoughtful, productive partnership will always have an inherent value, and a cross-functional team is no different. “Working with the sales team, I think it makes the whole product and the whole team stronger,” said George Nixon, a quality assurance engineer.
They can also deliver what two separate teams can’t — or at least don’t — on their own. The partnership between two departments allows employees to interact with coworkers they usually don’t cross paths with. Those new faces and diversity of thought perpetuate workers’ interest and a sense of change in work, both of which contribute to employee engagement.
What’s more, in this specific case the engineers also got to see complete strangers use the product they had poured their time into creating. “It’s so cool to see these people in the demo to who have never seen FoxDen before. It’s great to see that first time experience and how it works, how smooth it is. You gain a lot of valuable insight,” said George. Validation of that sort contributes to an employee’s sense of fulfillment in their work.
Accomplish goals bigger than one group
Sometimes a cross-functional team is absolutely necessary, like for ReadyTalk’s customer experience team. Customer experience ensures a consistent and targeted experience for every touchpoint a customer might encounter, from initial contact with sales to everyday use of the product. “Basically, the team can’t be owned by one department,” said Kim Wachtel, director of customer experience.
Most companies are organized into functional groups; your groups of marketers, salespeople, or engineers. They work well because each member is working towards a common goal, and focuses on priorities they need to meet. That organizational structure can run into problems when teams need to work on goals larger than their department.
“The downside with functional groups is that if they don’t have mechanisms in place to work across function, you can end up with an experience that feels very disjointed to your customers,” said Kim. In certain cases, a well managed cross-functional team allows your employees to accomplish much more than they can without deliberate organization.
