Revolutionize Team Dynamics: The Power of Cross-Departmental Leadership

Revamp the way your team communicates and collaborates by sharing leadership roles within your organization. Imagine the possibilities when leaders step out of their usual roles and lead meetings in other departments, fostering a culture of innovative problem-solving and inclusivity. We've seen firsthand how this bold strategy can elevate team dynamics, and we're here to share the secret strategy with you.

Here's how cross-departmental leadership has transformed client sites, boosting morale and sparking fresh ideas. We'll also show how rotating leadership in meetings can create an environment where team members feel recognized and valued.

Get ready to transform your organizational culture and see results like never before!

When it comes to cross-departmental communication and collaboration with coaching, one of the greatest things leaders can do is lead other departmental meetings. It sounds backward, but follow this train of thought. What if leaders were to share agendas, share challenges inside the departments, and ask other leaders to lead their team meetings? Not all the time, but every once and a while. Recently, I spoke to the board at one of our client sites, and they said the CEO couldn't make it, so he had the chief operating officer lead the meeting. We had never seen that done before.

On the surface, I didn't think it was a big deal. Then, as I thought about it, I realized it was. When you show up, it changes the dynamic of the meeting. When a leader from another department leads a team meeting for non-direct reports and asks, "What do we need to do to improve our cross-departmental communication?" The team members are now talking to a relevant party in the source of the question who is not their direct report. Open collaboration goes through the roof.

Think about sharing the leadership of cross-departmental meetings. It sounds crazy, yet when leaders have done this at some of our client sites, they come back and say the dynamic completely changed. When we get our people together and conduct rotating peer-to-peer conversations, when we have multiple departments in a meeting and leaders get up and acknowledge other team members not on their teams, and then lead other leaders' departmental meetings, it's amazing how much communication and collaboration skyrockets.

ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE CROSS-DEPARTMENT COLLABORATION AND COHESION:

--Ask everyone in all targeted departments what it means to them what a great team is and what a great team does. Have them list the attributes and actions of what they believe a great team looks and acts like. After that definition is established, ask everyone what are 2 or 3 actions each person is going to take to support the definition of a great team.

--Have everyone in all departments complete their own SOAR analysis. Strengths, Opportunities, Actions, and Responsibilities. Have them list out what they're doing in terms of their strengths, where they have an opportunity to improve, the actions they are going to take, and the responsibility they're going to demonstrate to communicate their progress both with their direct report and across departments.

--In a cross-department meeting, have each person share 1 piece of positive feedback (a compliment) about someone who is not in their department with their leader. This will create a more open atmosphere and, over time, build trust between departmental teams.

--As illustrated in the above article, have leaders from other departments lead team meetings. Encourage them to ask how teams can better communicate across departments better, how to encourage more open collaboration, and what they can do to help out the team overall.

Boost your coaching and leadership game with our FREE COURSE to help leaders enhance their coaching abilities.

Lead with Impact: 6 Steps to Building a High-Performance Coaching Culture in Your Organization

This is a 7-day course with video lessons sent to your email throughout the week. You can watch the recorded lessons on your own time at your own pace.

Discover:

• The best attributes of coaching
• An efficient framework for coaching
• The crucial tiers of learning
• The 3 levels of change
• The power of questions
• and more!

Access the free course here: https://upvir.al/156009/lp156009