How do you approach building successful partnerships across multiple functions?

To build effective relationships (and partnerships), I am a huge believer in a framework called the "Trust Equation". The Trust Equation outlines the elements that contribute to building trust in a relationship. The Trust Equation framework is: Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-orientation Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy ==> Increases trust Self-orientation ==> Reduces trust The above items mean the following: Credibility is the perception of competence, expertise, ...Read More

I start by identifying my key stakeholders and operating cadence to ensure that I’m meeting with critical stakeholders and team members regularly, and we have the necessary forums for appropriate communication. I revisit this regularly - whenever there’s a shift in scope, a reorg, new hires, or at a minimum once a quarter. This serves two purposes: 1) it ensures I’m meeting with the right people and 2) it forces me to clean up my calendar and prioritize the important meetings.  When building out ...Read More

Building successful partnerships requires collaborative approach. A few things I always consider: Understand the Functions: Gaining a deeper understanding of each function and their respective goals, challenges, and priorities. This knowledge helps identify areas of alignment and collaboration. Foster open communication - Establish open lines of communication with stakeholders from different functions. Engaging stakeholders cross functionally, collaborating on projects, and knowledge sharing ses ...Read More

When there are multiple functions involved in key goals or initiatives, try to make it as easy as possible to share learnings and facilitate connections. Here are three key principles I’ve used: Be a connector: Look for opportunities to pair cross-functional folks together on a project. Or highlight opportunities where multiple teams may be addressing the same problem in different ways so they can orient around the same goal and reduce duplicative efforts.  Continuous learning: Orgs with strong ...Read More

First and foremost you have to remember that it's a human relationship at it's core. That means getting to know the person and not just doing work. Assuming that is happening to a sufficient degree then three things that may be useful are: Make sure you understanding what matters to your cross-functional partners. If you do not understand their part of the business, the mechanics of it, the metrics they care about, it's going to be hard to have a partnership. In other words, it cannot just be yo ...Read More

Work with a sense of urgency. If a project can be completed quickly (no downstream impacts), then get it done. Those little projects build a lot of goodwill. Communicate clearly and often. Perhaps that's weekly or monthly meetings to align on current/future projects. In addition to touch-base meetings, I like to use Confluence dashboards to show where a function's work is in-progress so those stakeholders have a centralized place to get simple questions answered. Don't play favorites. Any stakeh ...Read More

Building partnerships take time. But it is worth the effort. Mastering cross-functional collaboration will significantly impact the success of your company and your own career. You will need to take a strategic and collaborative approach to build cross-functional partnerships, investing time into: Identifying common goals and objectives: Start by identifying the common goals and objectives that your organization and its partners share. This will help you build a strong foundation for your partne ...Read More