Why is everyone talking about cross-functional agile teams?

Key takeaways

• Cross-functional teams in healthcare communications involve colleagues from brand, medical, and field teams, as well as experts in digital marketing and marketing tech
• Working in cross-functional teams encourages creativity and innovation, enabling the development of strategies that tick every box
• Every cross functional team needs a good facilitator, clear accountability, and easy communication

What is a cross-functional team?

Good question. A cross-functional team is a group of people with different skillsets and competencies, working across departments within an organisation, who share a common goal. Simple.

In the pharmaceutical world, cross-functional teamwork can get a little complicated, but it's essential for the successful, efficient, and compliant delivery of communications projects. Marketing, medical, and field teams from within a pharmaceutical company must collaborate with external agencies to stay on top of the latest channels, formats, tools, and technologies to best reach their audience. Medical communications agencies will then share their expertise on these areas, working seamlessly with various functions within the client organisation to deliver work that ticks all the boxes.

However, cross-functional working goes beyond client-agency collaboration. A top-notch medical communications agency will also have a wide selection of in-house experts that come together to deliver a product that sparkles from every angle.

At AMP27, we pride ourselves on being able to bring together expertise in consumer digital marketing, healthcare communications, and marketing tech seamlessly, without siloes or efficiency sinks. And the best bit? We work in partnership with our clients at every touchpoint. How do we do it? Read on to find out.

(And if you want to find out more about our unique blend of expertise, check out our meet the team page!)

What are the benefits of a cross-functional team?

Are cross-functional teams all work and no pay off? Not at all. At AMP27, we see three key benefits from cross-functional working.

• Thinking outside the box: By using various team members' expertise, those working on a project become more innovative when problem solving. Knowledge-holders can challenge each other, discuss all angles of a problem to find the best solution, and get the best out of each other.
• Winning strategies: Thinking outside the box translates into bold, creative, credible, and compelling strategies and tactics. Only by drawing on expertise from different specialisms can a team produce work that really delivers.
• Seamless efficiency: In a properly activated cross-functional team, clear roles and responsibilities are set. To ensure the best use of resources, and speed up processes, these teams make sure the right people are doing the right things at the right time. This approach drives efficiency throughout the project.

What are the potential challenges involved in cross-functional teamwork?

I always look at projects holistically, so it's only fair to note the potential complexities involved in running cross-functional teams. That way, any risks to efficiency that are posed can be mitigated from the start.

• Clear accountability: With so many experts all chipping in, it's easy to lose track of who's in charge. That's why at AMP27, we designate a team lead for each project, whose job it is to align opinions and determine the best course of action. This avoids inefficiencies and bureaucracy, while delivering solutions that tick every box.
• Change management: Working in cross-functional teams is a modern way of operating a business. AMP27 was started with cross-functional working built in, but for many companies, embracing this new style can take quite a long time. For teams just starting out on this path, we advise implementing changes incrementally, with each step being carefully thought out and managed. Map out what you want to achieve in the long-term, and break this goal down into manageable, bitesize steps.
• A good facilitator: Delivering a cross-functional project without a client services team member dedicated to facilitation is impossible. This person's role is to ensure all relevant stakeholders' input is thought about at appropriate touchpoints, and align all team members on common goals, key performance indicators, and ways of working.

Top tips for cross-functional wins

In theory, all of this might seem like a no-brainer. But what happens when we apply it in practice? Setting up your projects for success through cross-functional working is a lot trickier in a busy working environment than it is on paper.

Here are our five top tips for getting it right first time:

1. Start strong: Get early alignment on common goals, and ensure you have senior stakeholder buy-in. Nailing this part of a project at the start is key to delivering efficiently later down the line.
2. Roles and responsibilities: Ensure all relevant specialties are represented in your project, and make sure that everyone knows which team member is the expert in which area.
3. Ways of working: Map out your team's ways of working at the start of a project, and don't cut corners in sticking to these! For effective internal and external collaboration, organise regular workshops and ways of working check-ins to build confidence, and ensure teams are aligned with a shared goal and understanding.
4. Communications channels: Encourage considered, thorough, and transparent communication through established and easy-to-use channels. We use Slack for written communication and Teams for calls. Schedule regular meetings and updates within the team. These internal meetings are a platform for sharing insights, addressing concerns, and aligning expectations.
5. Resource planning: Use a resource planning tool to make sure that no one in the team is shouldering too much of the project burden. A tool like Asana can track who is needed for what task, to what degree, and at which stage of a project. Asana then provides insights data that can be analysed before sharing with the business and clients. This improves ways of working, strengthens partnerships, and allows us to continuously deliver a difference.

Through internal and external cross-functional collaboration, we're able to act as an extension of our clients' teams. We bring our combined expertise to the table to help our clients deliver against their objectives as partners. It simply works.

If you'd like to hear more about how we do it, or share ideas with us, don't hesitate to get in touch. Let's deliver a difference together!