Having CFTs work on a problem and solve it once and for all will free them to work on the next biggest problems, which will lead to improved margins and most importantly, happier customers willing to purchase again. Rather than having their brightest, relevant experts working together to prevent problems or the recurrence of problems, they have those experts work alone thinking they are solving a root cause when they are really just treating a symptom, leading to the proverbial question, “Why are our problems still repeating?”. There is likely a treasure trove of experience in the company that is not being utilized. I have also witnessed similar situations where a company is faced with significant corrective action. I have seen companies using a single design engineer to think through a design FMEA with no consideration for manufacturing, purchasing, packaging, etc. Some companies believe their greatest thinkers should focus on thinking for themselves rather than having them work with people that may have other functional expertise to increase the speed and completeness of thoughts. This is a very significant deterrent to a company’s quality, customer satisfaction and profitability. In my experience, many companies either underutilize CFTs or use them ineffectively. Now that we have laid some groundwork for CFTs, there is an elephant in the room that is seldom acknowledged. Team leaders now focus on coordination and recognizing accomplishments. ![]() Team members are empathetic, consider the needs of the team over their own and perform consistently. Performing – The team is now running at peak effectiveness and trust is at its highest. The team leader is monitoring the team’s energy and facilitating the sharing of relevant knowledge from each of the functional experts so that the team sees the full theater of their work. Everyone is engaged, focused and invested in the team’s success. Norming – This is the cohesive phase where the team is getting into a groove and has learned to trust and work with each other. They must also build trust that the team is in a “safe space” for candid and dignified dialog so that norms can begin to form. This is the most challenging phase, and the facilitator needs the right skills to encourage participation, feedback and the drive for conflict resolution. Storming – This is a phase where differences in philosophy, approaches and opinions can cause conflict. A team leader is selected and team members behave politely as they try to understand their role on the team and formulate their approach. Functional stakeholders are defined and team members are selected. Tuckman’s stages of group development are summarized as follows.įorming – This is where the project is chartered and the objectives, expectations and measurements of success are constituted. They need to be experts in their functional areas, but they also need to have the skills to work well with others on the team. It is important that the composition and practices of a team quickly progress through Tuckman’s stages of group development which are forming, storming, norming and performing. The composition, communication, and processes used by teams are critical to the effectiveness and value of the team’s output. But we can’t simply combine diverse talents and expect results. ![]() This is truly a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. CFTs can be great tools to help companies become more innovative, improve initial design, solve quality problems and eliminate defects.īy combining the perspectives, experiences and expertise of a diverse roster, CFTs are able to more effectively and efficiently make decisions. Wikipedia defines a Cross-functional Team (CFT) as “a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal”. In this article, we will discuss the sixth of these seven keys Cross-functional Teams. This is one of a series of blog posts digging deeper into the seven keys to building a quality culture, which builds on Nicole Parker’s introduction blog.
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