Are you a cat herder? 

Back in my corporate days in one of my roles, I led several concurrent teams (five to be exact) that quite candidly had very little connectivity to one another.  From the facilities team that oversaw environmental, repair & maintenance, construction and purchasing to a merchandising and marketing team that handled category management, promotions and advertising.  On the surface, how are all these connected?  In a nutshell, they all supported the operations of a 1,400-store retail chain.  

Every department that managed an aspect of the overall retail operation was critical to the success of that unit.  If I failed to connect these departments together, one “broken pipe” could have an adverse impact to the stores.  For instance, if the marketing team was planning an anniversary event at a store and at the same time, the environmental team was planning on shutting down the location for repairs, the sales plans would be a disaster.  It was my responsibility to ensure that each of these teams communicated in advance their plans so that other departments could adjust their strategies and schedules. 

Now, with my role as President & CEO at Gray Cat Enterprises, I still am tasked with the role of linking teams together when a client of mine, engages me as the Interim divisional executive head for one of their divisions.  These divisions can be made up of sales, marketing, procurement, finance, customer service and warehousing.  Connecting these multi-faceted teams effectively requires clear communication, alignment on goals, and the right collaboration tools to ensure the success of the division. 

With that as a precursor, here are some key strategies: 

Establish Clear Goals & Objectives:  Defining a shared vision and purpose aligns all teams.  I am not suggesting that each team member needs to be fluent in another team’s areas of responsibility, but they should be somewhat educated.  One of the strategies that I employed, was bringing all my teams (Facilities, Real Estate, Marketing, Merchandising and Corporate Communications) together for a semi-annual meeting.  Each team was tasked in presenting their upcoming business plan not only for their team, but as importantly, how their activities can and will impact other teams.  This helped set clear expectations for each team’s role and contributions, and we would regularly revisit and refine goals to ensure alignment monthly through team updates. 

Foster Open Communication:  In order to keep the flow of change fluid, use structured communication channels (Slack, Teams, email, etc.) for monthly (or more frequent) updates.   I would strongly encourage transparency and knowledge sharing as a way of proactively intercepting any conflicts or challenges in executing a flawless plan.  While we held in-person meetings semi-annual amongst all teams, I would try and schedule regular cross-team meetings on a lesser scale and/or provide a weekly update that kept all parties informed of progress and changes. 

Utilize the Right Collaboration Tools:  Where applicable, utilize, project management tools like Trello or Asana.  While I am quite content with managing by Excel spreadsheet, the interconnectivity of Trello or Asana allows for on-the-fly, real-time updates to all persons impacted.  The challenge can be the inordinate amount of change management that takes place and that can sometimes burden the participants.  Challenge the teams on an ongoing basis to provide material updates to these boards as opposed to the minutiae.    

Encourage Cross-Functional Relationships:  I call this singing from the same songbook.  If team A knows what team B is doing, more than likely they can add value – not detract from – the activities of all teams.  I some cases, it can be advantageous to create cross-team working groups or task forces to help cover all bases of a project plan.  By rotating team members in shared initiatives, you can help inform as well as cross-train team members in a myriad of responsibilities.  Hosting knowledge-sharing sessions or workshops like I described in my semi-annual meetings, helps all become part of a larger team and role. 

Define Common Processes & Workflows:  While I can appreciate that each team will approach their areas of responsibility in their own, distinguishable fashion, creating a standardized process to documentation and reporting methods is encouraged.  You want your teams focused on the content of the plans as opposed spending time trying to understand how to decipher the content.  I am a big believer in using templates for consistency across teams.  Lastly, establishing clear escalation paths for resolving conflicts a proactive basis provides the team a path to “keep the train rolling along.” 

In my opinion, over-communicating on an ongoing basis helps promote mutual respect and understanding of each team’s expertise.  It also offers glimpses into each of the department’s expertise which in turn, can foster and encourage feedback loops and continuous improvement.  Ultimately, this allows all departments to celebrate wins together and further build team unity and you become the quintessential cat herder! 

 Want more ideas?  For more information on Gray Cat Learning Series, visit: https://www.graycatenterprises.com/gray-cat-learning-series