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Collaboration and effective communication across departments in an organization is crucial for success. In today’s digital workplace, it’s especially important for tech teams to be aware of the needs, questions and challenges of their colleagues to ensure the solutions they provide are effective.
By implementing various strategies, tech leaders can foster cross-functional collaboration, promote knowledge sharing and strengthen the relationships their tech team members have with co-workers. Below, 18 Forbes Technology Council members share the strategies they recommend to prevent team silos and why they can be instrumental in driving innovation, efficiency and organizational cohesion.
1. Develop And Share A Monthly Newsletter
A monthly newsletter can be an effective way for teams to share updates on their progress, highlight the impact they are making on the organization, recognize team members’ achievements, and communicate plans for the upcoming month. By sharing this information with other teams and departments, teams can help build transparency and foster a sense of collaboration and communication across the organization. – Danish Chopra, Amenify Corporation
2. Use Simple, Non-Technical Language
Language is the key. Technical teams can use terms and language that is very difficult for non-experts to decipher. While this may make for efficient communication in the proper context, it is alienating for non-technical team stakeholders. Spending the time to develop simple explanations will ensure that all stakeholders are engaged. – Mark Cameron, Alyve Consulting
3. Check In Weekly With Other Teams
The strategy we have found effective at a leader level is creating regular mechanisms for cross-organizational alignment. We discuss what we are learning and what needs to be prioritized. For example, our product and engineering team aligns weekly with our customer support and success team to ensure our learnings are aligned and that we are up to date on each other’s priorities. – Praerit Garg, Smartsheet
4. Take A Design-First Approach To Technology Initiatives
Whenever possible, take a design-first approach to large technology initiatives. That means involving all relevant stakeholders from across various departments from the foundational start. That keeps up cross-team collaboration and eliminates decisions being made in silos. All key representatives from other areas of the organization should be involved early on with large tech initiatives. – Jason Harmon, Stoplight
5. Detail The Alignment Between Corporate And Departmental Goals
Document corporate goals and departmental goals and show how they align. Doing so gives each team an understanding of how their work contributes to the company’s success. A shared vision of success allows employees across an organization to work more effectively together, promoting a collaborative culture. – Sonali Shah, Invicti Security
6. Bond Through Informal, Cross-Team Challenges
Informal settings catalyze interactions and help foster stronger bonds between people who do not interact during their day-to-day work. We organize outbound adventure activities and learning programs that are structured as challenges that can only be solved using a mix of cross-functional skills (such as analysis, negotiation, reasoning and selling) and open them up for teams drawn from people across departments. For us, it works like magic. – Pramod Konandur Prabhakar, Pelatro PLC
7. Share Cross-Functional Updates
Cross-functional communication is critical to avoid silos. The entire organization should be aware of other functions’ priorities to understand how each team’s work ties into that of the others. For example, all functions should be aware of the progress engineering is making to help guide their activities, and showing product teams how their efforts impact the sales pipeline and revenue helps bring teams closer to the business. – Gene Fay, ThreatX
8. Encourage A Sense Of Shared Ownership
Encourage an open and transparent culture where everyone feels free to voice concerns, offer suggestions and question presumptions. By encouraging a sense of shared ownership and accountability for the organization’s success, this strategy can aid in the dismantling of silos. – Neelima Mangal, Spectrum North
9. Support Learning And Development
Always encourage learning and development to keep the tech team aligned with organizational goals. Creating an environment that provides opportunities for team members to gain new skills, explore new technologies and stay updated with industry trends will foster growth and collaboration. This will help the tech team and the organization through increased productivity and a culture of continuous improvement. – Mohamed Fathy, EFG Holding
10. Have The Product Team Lead Cross-Functional Meetings
The product and engineering partnership plays a critical role in this situation. The product team should lead recurring cross-functional meetings that all the stakeholders from other functions join to stay aligned on strategy and business priorities. Every functional leader should share key updates, metrics and relevant details on new business opportunities and ongoing projects and how their efforts help solve challenges. – Santiago Jeyaseelan, Gainbridge®
11. Collaborate Regularly Through R&D And Leadership Meetings
You should have a weekly R&D and cross-functional leadership meeting in order to facilitate better communication and visibility across the organization. Communication is key for an organization to run effectively, and I believe that 80% of conflicts are due to communication gaps. The more you can facilitate information flow, the better everyone can do their jobs. – Liz Li, Velocity Global
12. Ensure Effective Communication Between Product And Customer Support Teams
I work closely with product management to drive effective communication between the pre-sales, account management and support teams. In this way, we develop purpose-built goals for engineers and other cross-functional teams to ensure our customers are happy. This is accomplished with a strike team; strategic offsite, brown bag lunches; and special events to help us reach our North Star objectives. – Salvatore Sferlazza, NinjaOne
13. Create Shared Projects and Interdepartmental Initiatives
To prevent siloing, we encourage cross-functional collaboration through regular team check-ins, shared projects and interdepartmental initiatives. This promotes openness, inclusivity and knowledge-sharing, fostering a culture of innovation. Maintaining open communication channels empowers everyone to contribute to the company’s success. – Aleks Farseev, SoMin.ai
14. Schedule Regular Town Hall Meetings Led By Executives
One strategy we have implemented to break down departmental silos is providing regular and consistent town hall meetings led by department heads and executive leadership. The goal for these huddles is to share goals, progress and opportunities to improve across the organization so that each team understands the role they play in the company’s overall success. – Tracy Davis, TRAX Analytics
15. Highlight The Tech Team’s Efforts In All-Hands Meetings
We leverage our company all-hands meeting to share a view into the technology team. For about five minutes, we have one or two of our tech team members share a recent project with the whole company. It not only makes our whole technology team feel seen, but it also gets the rest of the company excited about what we’re building. Many follow-up conversations happen based on those few minutes of broad visibility. – Luke Wallace, Bottle Rocket
16. Reach Out To Peers For Consultations And/Or Discussions
The best approach to avoid getting siloed is to over-communicate with the teams in your organization. I regularly reach out to my peers for consultations and discussions and encourage my team to do the same. It’s important to make sure your counterparts understand your processes and expectations for working with them in pursuit of common goals. It’s also important to ask for help if needed. – Russ Kennedy, Nasuni
17. Give ‘Pop Quizzes’ On Interdepartmental Scenarios
We gather the team each week and run through “scenarios” from other divisions. In a tech organization, there is always cross-functional activity and the opportunity to collaborate. The tech team works with compliance team members, who work with sales staff, who work with finance—but are they all working together? By asking the team to come prepared with answers to these “pop quizzes,” they communicate with each other and want to know more. – Shams Syed, AptPay Inc.
18. Allow All Team Members To Bring Up Tech Issues
We focus on allowing any member of the team to speak up about any issues they see. We’ve had several situations where a non-tech person on our team came up with the best solution for a tech problem. It doesn’t happen often, and you should always lean toward expertise and experience, but increasing communication between tech and non-tech team members is really helpful. – Jordan Yallen, MetaTope
