If you have followed this blog or are familiar with the tenants of process improvement you know that the basis of that effort is the coming together of the collective ideas of the organization to achieve that continuous process improvement. This collective effort should be in the form of a cross-functional team.

Let's explore what a team is not. It is not a place for grandstanding. It is not a place for someone trying to take the credit for the work of others. The team does not revolve around anyone individual on the team.

The purpose of the empowered cross-functional team is to approach an issue or problem with an open mind with the contribution of every member of the team. The contribution is in the form of ideas, backgrounds, skills and analytical skills.

The team needs to begin by looking at the diversity of the team. Diversity in their backgrounds and skills. Diversity in the their thoughts and views of the problem and their potential solutions. They need to ne able to go outside of the silo mentality and take in potential solution suggestions from where ever they come from.

The team needs to be open minded to the solutions by utilizing more than the easy way out in choosing the results. It needs to utilize both full spectrum thinking and new decision tools to arrive at the best answers. It also has to consider new ways to arrive at the final solutiosn using design thinking components.

The cross-functional team is critical to your success. The cross-functional team is not John Doe's team , it is the organizational team. The results are far superior when the team output is a joint effort rather than John Doe's output.