What is boundary spanning, and why is it important for businesses to succeed?

Spanning boundaries effectively is essential for leaders. As our world becomes more complex and interconnected, executives must transform from managers who protect their boundaries to leaders who practice spanning boundaries. The leadership advantage goes to people who are able to work with a variety of colleagues from differing positions, backgrounds, locations, and experiences.

C-Suite Research reveals the lack of the ability

Extensive research by Center for Creative Leadership into spanning boundaries for senior C-suite leaders around the world reveals:

??More than 86% of top leaders stated that it is "extremely important" to collaborate effectively across boundaries in their current leadership roles.

??Only 7% of those executives reported feeling "very effective" at spanning boundaries — a gap of 79 percentage points.

It is obvious that leaders need to possess this important skill set in order for their businesses to succeed.

What is boundary spanning?

"Efforts by an organization to develop links both within and outside the organization" is the definition of boundary spanning. building "bridges" between different employee tiers, like managers and executives, or even between a company and its distributors Basically, it entails putting together your own personal information network from a variety of sources. Boundary spanning is necessary for the success of cross-functional teams and change management projects because, when working with others, two factors are essential for success: the ability to create and maintain healthy relationships as well as the capacity to deal with disordered data and potentially high levels of ambiguity in order to meet objectives, deadlines, and goals. You must be able to communicate well with a wide range of people.

Why is crossing boundaries a crucial leadership skill?

It is more challenging than ever to collaborate on comprehensive solutions and explain them in the chaotic and complex corporate environment of today, where virtual teams, virtual offices, and foreign coworkers are a common occurrence. Thanks to smartphones, Wi-Fi, and social media, we can manage this complexity more easily than ever, but it's also much easier to drown in a constant flood of information that can prevent us from doing it successfully.

Because of this, the value of a skill like border bridging has increased. One of the biggest changes in the workforce in the new millennium is the requirement to synthesize information rather than produce it. Everything is available online. Therefore, memorizing it will be useless. To add value, we must reframe the issue. This is what I mean by synthesizing. Despite the fact that it may seem straightforward and simple, there aren't many business problems that have a clear-cut solution, as we all know.

?It takes Leadership to Collaborate across all Boundaries.

The Five Universal Boundary Types

Across cultures, contexts, and time, these five types of boundaries are universal, according to C-suite research with leaders worldwide. They have visited us before, are here right now, and won't leave us tomorrow. According to our research study, the 5 categories of boundaries that leaders must be able to cross are as follows:

??Horizontal: between organizational functions (expertise, departments, peers)

??Vertical: between hierarchical levels of the organization (rank, class, seniority, authority, power)

??Stakeholder: involving outside parties (customers, partners, constituencies, value chain, communities)

??Demographics: a variety of groups (gender, generation, nationality, culture, personality, ideology)

??Geographic: between locations (regions, markets, distances)

Four Steps to begin upgrading your ability to spanning across boundaries

1. Begin by picturing the outcome.

Think about your challenge's nature and the boundaries (horizontal, vertical, stakeholder, demographic, and geographic) that are most common or challenging for you to cross.

2. Specify the plan.

Do you need to foster respect and safety? Your plan then is to manage boundaries by reflecting and buffering. Is it your intention to foster ownership and trust? Use connecting and mobilizing strategies to create a common ground. Greater interdependence and reinvention, as well as the opening of new frontiers, are possible if the groundwork has been laid. Investigate the weaving and transformational strategies.

3. Start off easy.

Start with one or two strategies that feel simple to introduce and use. Avoid "launching" a campaign that crosses boundaries. Start small, find some allies, utilize the strength of networks, and build on your achievements.

4. Experiment and make changes.

Keep in mind that not every boundary-spanning technique will be effective for your group or circumstance. Don't be afraid to try new things. You can change our advice or come up with your own strategies.

Summary

The leadership advantage goes to people who are able to work with a variety of colleagues from differing positions, backgrounds, locations, and experiences. Only 7% of C-suite executives feel "very effective" at spanning boundaries, according to C-Suite Research. Five types of boundaries are universal, according to C-suite research with leaders worldwide. There are five categories of boundaries that leaders must be able to cross: vertical, horizontal, vertical, stakeholder, demographic, and geographic. Use connecting and mobilizing strategies to create a common ground.

This article is published with input from various sources (CCL - Hult - Google)