How can you evaluate cross-functional team performance without making common mistakes?

Ensuring that you have input and buy in on scope, deliverable, and timelines is critical. Creating these in silo or with only one groups input can put the project in jeopardy from the start.

I've found that creating Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals with input from the cross-functional team helps with establishing the baseline of performance and then having regular review intervals keeps you on track.

In my experience, it's great to collect feedback at various stages of the project, so there is time for action. Feedback mechanism is best when it's regular rather than sporadic. Discuss opportunities after giving feedback, individually or as a team.

Incorporating a variety of check ins is also helpful for gathering input. Periodic stakeholder meetings, 1:1s and project team meetings, meetings with functional managers is also key.

Make sure the recognition occurs not only within the project team but also broader with their functional areas and leadership. Often times contributors need their functional areas to be aware of their wins when it may be tied to a work effort outside their unit

I like the idea of lessons learned but during your project. Take periodic quick looks at wins and losses and then applying that knowledge to the balance of the project is one of the key skills of an effective cross functional manager/project manager

Having an initial conversation with team members and their functional manager to understand how feedback and recognition should flow is also helpful in ensuring everyone is on the same page

I have seen daily scrum, and weekly reviews can help with empowering teams. Cross-functional team owners remain accountable and deliver with agility.

When collecting feedback, identify multiple time points in the project to solicit input. This approach provides two key benefits over the traditional method of collecting feedback at the end of the project. First, it allows for course correction and improvement. You can then change the process or shift responsibilities to better position the whole team to succeed. Second, it will reduce a phenomenon known as recency bias. We remember most clearly what happened recently, so if we wait to get input until the end of the project, that will likely reflect only thoughts on the latest contributions or collaborations. Multiple data points will give you a better overall view of the contributions of each team member.

Cross functional teams by their very nature are deeply complex from a number of levels. There is an opportunity to kick off a cross functional team engagement in a way that will accelerate the teaming aspect. People might know each other already but when a new group or team comes together and "forms" it is followed by the "storm" phase of teaming. This storm is the result of a lack of clarity and can be amplified by personality differences. There is a way to shorten the storm to get to results faster but it takes a concerted effort and investment from the entire team.

It’s great to have checkpoints at regular intervals and align who will be the right participant for each. This includes involving the right hierarchy. Also, having a well-defined escalation matrix and criteria at the start of the project is helpful.