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“Cross-functional leadership” is the way of today’s leaner, meaner working world.
Sometimes referred to as “matrixed leadership,” the best way to understand cross-functional leadership is to walk through a real-life example. Let’s say you work for a company that decides to invest in a complex implementation of enterprise accounting software. However, this is not a mere technical upgrade – the project is meant to usher in a new level of accounting transparency and integrity important to attracting new capital, improving the company’s ability to make key business decisions, or getting regulators off the CFO’s back. It’s critical to the long-term future of the business.
Back to you. You’re a cost accountant in a task-oriented, low-visibility role in which you spend the majority of your time plowing through your daily duties and completing the basic work for which you are responsible. In addition, there is no clear path to move up in the company, develop new skills, and advance your career goals. You’re not necessarily in a rut, but you’re not on a fast track either.
This is where cross-functional leadership enters the picture. The overall responsibility for implementing the accounting software upgrade will be given to a newly hired project manager and a slate of high-priced consultants who don’t know the ins and outs of the company. While their expertise is important, they won’t be around to assess the long-term effects or train the staff on the new system. The company needs members of its permanent staff to take the lead in managing their department’s piece of the project. This is your golden ticket.
Instead of ignoring anything that may not explicitly be part of your day-to-day job duties, you decide to rise to the challenge of tackling this important outside project. It will provide you an opportunity to work across departments, indirectly manage people who have different skill sets and personalities than you, provide you with new work experiences, and if it goes off successfully, it can elevate your profile (and hopefully your future) inside the company.
Here's what you need to know to leverage this opportunity to your advantage:
In most cases, you’ll be volunteering for plenty of extra work. You’ll need to raise your hand.
Most likely, you won’t be given increased compensation. You’ll be agreeing to do more with no guarantees of personal ROI. But keep in mind that successfully navigating higher sometimes translates into higher rewards.
You can’t lose sight of your existing job duties. You’ve got to keep your foot on the gas in both roles.
It’ll be important to step outside the normal scope of your job (and your cubicle) to collaborate across different departments and stakeholders. In this example, you’d need to work with the project manager, the accounting department, vendors, the IT department, management consultants, and maybe the CEO’s office and board of directors. Each with different personalities, priorities, and agendas.
To be successful you will need to work with and through others. It can be a challenge to get others to do what you want when you’re not somebody’s direct boss but rely on their success and contribution.
·Implementing new accounting software isn’t going to help if the accounting process itself is laborious, inefficient, and error-prone. Don’t make any assumptions. Don’t hesitate to get into the weeds. It’s essential to become an expert in what everybody involved does and to surface any concerns you may discover.
You must be a master communicator. Throughout the process, everybody involved needs to know what you’re doing and you need to know what everybody else is doing.
Share your success and wins. If co-workers feel like they’re getting the credit they deserve it fosters an open environment that should lead to more success for everyone involved.
Also, take credit when it’s due. In the end, your moxie made this happen.
In exchange for your extra time and effort, a cross-functional role is not without its rewards:
A cross-functional role increases your visibility company-wide. When performance reviews come around, you will stand out because you were the point person on a critical project.
You will develop leadership skills and a deeper level of business knowledge way beyond the normal scope of your regular job duties. If you don’t work somewhere a stellar performance review leads to promotions and increased compensation, you will still have a higher level of transferable skills that are in demand somewhere that does.
You will learn to lead with influence without authority. This is not something that can be taught. It can only be acquired by doing.
For the talented and ambitious, cross-functionality is a way to be mentored by many different people at the same time. For example, if you’re called into the Chief Operating Officer’s office to explain your recent recommendations to streamline the coding process so that the accounting department isn’t correcting other departments’ work because they don’t realize they’re doing it wrong, you will quickly learn the COO has a completely different perspective.
Cross-functionality enables you to accelerate your career goals outside the traditional corporate hierarchy.
On a final note, if cross-functional opportunities are not available where you work, consider engaging in volunteer work. Non-profits often look for experienced professionals to help them with their missions but lack the big bucks and staff to hire consultants. You’ll gain critical experience, they’ll gain the fruits of your labor.
