Cross-Functional Teams Need Positive Relationships With Key Stakeholders . Companies need to examine their performance management system to see whether team behaviors are taken into account and department heads incorporate team member performance data into their appraisals. Some department managers ask team leaders to complete the performance appraisal form for the people who serve on that team while other companies are experimenting with a team member peer review process. Companies Should Consider Project Team Rewards and Member Recognition . Cross-Functional Teams Should Be Small .
Many organizations make the mistake of including everyone with some connection to the task.
As a result, cross-functional teams are often too large to be effective. We know, and many studies in group psychology confirm, that when a team gets too large, communications and productivity suffer because members feel less accountable and, as a result, their participation decreases. If your team is too large, consider simply decreasing the membership, using a core team to make the key decisions or creating small task teams to do the bulk of the work. Positive Interpersonal Relationships Are Essential . The diverse nature of cross-functional teams usually means that lack of trust, poor interpersonal relationship and conflict are endemic.