Leading a Crossfunctional Team

Cross Functional Team Leadership
amani gera, Accountant, Egypt
Cross-functional team leader should be a cross-functional candidate which mean listen with deep understanding of people situation and great talent to articulate his vision to others.

Demands on Cross Functional Team Leader
Bernard Peek, Consultant, United Kingdom
The team leader needs to inspire confidence while taking the team through the phases: forming, storming, norming, performing. Also he needs to keep the team focused on its ultimate goal, avoiding distractions and dissent.

Synergy is the Key
Guillermo Linares, Consultant, Mexico
The leader more than any has to hear what his team says and articulate their work to accomplish their target, the most effective people are the one's who are always focus and always connected.

Cross Functional Team Leadership
Aree Cheunwattana, Lecturer, Thailand
Concise, readable and informative. I learned much from this article.

Systems Thinker
Aaron Shaffer, Consultant, United States
Ideally, they need to be able to see the organization as a broader system - seeing how each function contributes.

Leaders of Cross Functional Teams
Adedayo Olayemi, Student (MBA), British Indian Ocean Territory
A cross functional team is a good way of handling company projects. The cross functional team leader must be very observant and focus and perhaps have in depth understanding of human resources so that he can be able to harness the team to achieve the desired result. I will be willing to participate in such team if given the opportunity.

Team Leader
David Calitz, Manager, South Africa
A team leader must lead his people. A manager must manage the team. Both must lead by example

Leading Vitual Teams
Dirk Schaele, Management Consultant, Belgium
I agree with all the comments but in the light of the globalization and cost containment we did not mention the skills yet to lead and manage virtual teams in a matrix organisation. My current challenge is to drive innovation within Europe. We have incubation teams in various countries. With the travel restrictions we need to learn becoming effective through the use of collaborative workspaces, live meeting, video conference, etc..

Cross Functional Team Leadership
ISAAC E. OGBUKA PhD, Other, Nigeria
The leader's ability to act outside the box with certain attitudes that enables him/her to act in an organization on functions outside his/her primary assignment. Such attitudes are patiently listening to others and acting timely with boldness to achieve both primary and long-term objective.

Leading a Crossfunctional Team
Joscelin Trouwborst, Management Consultant, Netherlands
Typical a management team would be a crossfunctional team. Their succes or failure has been researched extensively. I feel the results are applicable to CFT's in general. Book: R. Meredith Belbin, Management Teams, Third Edition: Why they succeed or fail

Cross Functional Team Leader is a Conductor
Piek, Business Consultant, South Africa
Too much emphasis is placed on the role of the Cross Functional Team - team leader. If the CFT-team leader is the execptional listener, etc why the rest of the team? Does he/she need them? - Hardly! A CFT-team leader is not the thinker outside the box, but the team members should be. The effectiveness of the process should be in the diversity of the CFT-team members - each person's unique input into the team. The same applies with virtual/matrixed teams. The essence of Cross Functional Team is locked up in the difference of approach to problem solving/decision making, etc, for instance. The CFT-leader is the conductor only - getting each to contribute meaningfully at the right time, etc.

Cross Function Team Leader is a Coordinator Only.
Franky He, China
All abilities of cross function team leaders mentioned above are known for common leadership, but what is the most important? I am an extended cross function team leader, all members come from different divisions and do a part-time job. They all have their own job during the project. Furthermore, their performance appraisal is handled by their boss. How to show your leadership in such a occasion? Coordinator only!!!!

Cross Functional Team Leader
Sabiha, USA
All in all, a cross functional team leader is one who knows and understands the true colors of his team members in relation to his own. For example, giving an assigned task to someone who loves doing this job makes much of a difference compared to handing it over to some who is not a bit interested... A leader of a cross functional team is in my view a motivator, a mentor, someone who should be ready to suck it in at times and still show the positive energy to the team with open means of communication between team members to be more productive.

Cross Functional Team Leadership
W. Denton Dobbs, Management Consultant, Canada
Pity the poor cft leader that does not understand diversity and accountability. Diversity of interests, ability, and engagement. Holding each member accountable for their commitment to the team is key to success. Ensuring the team is accountable as a whole for achieving the objective: priceless.

Cross Functional Team Leader- Trust and Diversity Management
SAMUEL LUZOBE, Manager, Uganda
A leader of cross-functional team must have the ability to engender a high level of trust, promote a healthy degree of conflict and debate. Yet he must have the skill to harness consensus. He/she must be accept some degree of vulnerability. Since the team is cross functional, there is an optimal ignorance on each of the team members concerning specializations of others. The team leader must be the first to demonstrate that he is not a master of all the disciplines. In brief diversity management is key.

Leading a Cross Functional Team
Rebecca M. Baybrook, Human Resources Executive, United States
A coach who brings out the best in the team members as they work together to achieve a clearly articulated purpose. A leader who provides a meaningful way to make sense of the business context & team experience.
A motivator who helps each team member see what they can gain from contributing to team achievement.
An arbitrator who encourages healthy conflict & knows how & when to resolve it in the best interests of the team's goals.
A light-heart who can create laughter & joy when the team needs it.

Membership
John F. K. Afonu, Ghana
It depends also on the characters of the members of the CFT. Much can be achieved if members are ready to sacrifice for goal congruence.

Group Dynamics
Ron L. Meredith, CEO, United States
The CFT leader role seems close to a group facilitator in a therapy group. Listen, define, articulate, seek understanding, bridge dissension, and bring the group to trust each other and not fear censorship or ridicule. Cross-functional groups can add a dynamic element as individual members bring together greater diversity and more alternative thought processed. The key is to contain the open-ended process and bring everyone possible to consensus. Follow-up after a difficult meeting also seems important as not all members or ideas will be well received.

CFT Leadership
Devan Naidu, Project Manager, South Africa
The leader of a Cross-Functional Team needs to identify the strengths of each of the team members and harness these into a cohesive unit. Each team member needs to be held accountable for his / her part, whilst knowing fully the overall objectives. The leader must stress the importance of teamwork and each member must commit fully to the objectives of the team.