Cross-functional leadership: An Important yet Underrated Skill

Let’s expand our view of leadership and shine a light on cross-functional leadership and lateral agility. We all know these skills are essential for success in larger organizations, yet they’re often underrated. As a marketer who has worked in both startups and enterprise companies, I’ve had to “reach across the aisle”—collaborating with other departments (some of which were pretty prickly) to achieve common goals. This meant building relationships, bridging gaps, coaching, and influencing without authority on a daily basis. To be efficacious, I had to build rapport and integrate the expertise of other stakeholders and teams. However, this becomes increasingly difficult when an organization is siloed and fragmented (*eyeroll*). And we all know that stubborn silos not only stymie execution but also lead to chronic migraines and stress snacking (who has the Advil and Oreo cookies?).

🌐 Luckily, the good folks at HBR jotted down a few pointers in the article "How to Lead Across Siloed Organizations.”🚀

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Expansive Mindset: High-performing, cross-functional leaders embrace expanded mindsets that lean on humility to activate bigger-picture success. In cross-functional decisions, they use powerful phrases like, “What does the organization or our customers need from our work together?

• Trust is the bedrock. A high degree of curiosity and empathy fuel connective skills that allow these [cross-functional] leaders to forge trusted and mutually beneficial relationships. They proactively seek to clarify the motivations and constraints of colleagues and stakeholders.

• Win Together Mentality: They seek and create solutions that leverage negotiation skills to make all stakeholders feel a part of the solution—using “paradoxical questions,” such as: “How can you and I find a solution that enables me to achieve what I’m trying to do, while also enabling your team to meet its objectives?"