Drive Engagement Through Interdepartmental Collaboration
Transition from a non-collaborative environment to one that drives innovation and results across departments.
- Organizations of all sizes are struggling with interdepartmental collaboration, which is a core engagement driver.
- Non-collaborative behaviors can impede the organization’s ability to accomplish business goals, lower morale levels, and create unhealthy competitive work environments.
- HR professionals struggle with knowing where to start to improve the level of interdepartmental collaboration in their organization.
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Speak With An Analyst.
- Get on-demand project support
- Get advice, coaching, and insight at key project milestones
- Go through a Guided Implementation to help you get through your project
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- There are a number of drivers that are related to collaboration and directly impact the level of success your collaborative projects are achieving. These include your organizational values, organizational structure, leadership, communication, performance management, and compensation practices.
- It is necessary that your culture, behaviors, and practices are aligned with and support your goals of collaboration in order to create a work environment that fosters interdepartmental collaboration.
Impact and Result
- Interdepartmental collaboration has a number of benefits for the organization, including increasing innovation, engagement, and productivity.
- Create a collaborative culture by ensuring that your values and organizational structure align with your collaborative goals.
- Foster collaborative behaviors by working with your leaders to get them on board with the initiative and develop a trusting environment. Ensure that your communication practices are unobstructed and that there is transparent sharing of information.
- Encourage and reward the correct behaviors by reviewing and aligning performance management and compensation practices to your collaborative goals.
Workshop: Drive Engagement Through Interdepartmental Collaboration
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Make the case to improve the level of interdepartmental collaboration in the organization
The Purpose
- Understand what interdepartmental collaboration is and is not.
- Understand the benefits and reasons for supporting interdepartmental collaboration.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Gain a clear definition of collaboration.
- Be prepared for resistance to your collaboration initiatives.
Activities
Outputs
Brainstorm – What is Collaboration?
Discussion to level set what is meant by HR outsourcing.
- Level set the interdepartmental collaboration discussion.
Module 2: Identify the causes of poor interdepartmental collaboration
The Purpose
- Understand where you should focus your energy to improve the level of interdepartmental collaboration in your organization.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Synthesis of opinions across departments.
- Identification of key pain points.
Activities
Outputs
Use voting cards to assess your current state and determine the issues that are hindering interdepartmental collaboration.
- Identification and prioritization of key pain points causing low levels of collaboration.
- Comparison of results to the assessment across departments.
Module 3: Develop an action plan for creating a collaborative culture
The Purpose
- Develop an action plan for aligning your organizational values and structure with collaboration.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A defined action plan for creating a collaboration culture.
Activities
Outputs
Name your values discussion.
- Understand if your values support or impede collaboration. Determine if changes need to be made and document next steps.
Draw your organizational structure.
- Determine how your organizational structure needs to be altered and document next steps.
Module 4: Develop an action plan to align your behaviors with your collaborative goals
The Purpose
- Develop an action plan for getting your leadership on board with interdepartmental collaboration.
- Ensure that communication systems are supporting you collaborative goals.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A defined action plan for improving collaborative behaviors.
Activities
Outputs
Ranking exercise of leadership traits.
- Understand if your leadership team is demonstrating collaborative behaviors.
- Develop an action plan to improve your leaders’ behaviors.
Start/Stop/Continue exercise to take stock of communication practices.
- Determine how your communication practices need to be altered and document next steps.
Module 5: Develop an action plan to align your practices with collaboration
The Purpose
- Develop an action plan for aligning performance management with your collaborative goals.
- Ensure that your compensation practices are rewarding collaborative behaviors.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A defined action plan for improving collaborative practices.
Activities
Outputs
Draw your ideal employee.
- Understand if your performance management is evaluating against the collaborative behaviors you want to see.
- Develop an action plan to improve your performance management practices.
Discuss if your performance management and compensation practices are aligned to your ideals.
- Determine if compensation practices need to be altered to support and reward collaboration and document next steps.
Module 6: Evaluate the effectiveness of your collaboration initiative
The Purpose
- Determine metrics to track for measuring the success of your collaboration initiatives.
- Use McLean & Company’s KPI Tracking Tool to record your metrics.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Understand if your collaboration initiatives were successful and where you need to focus more energy.
Activities
Outputs
Brainstorm potential metrics and methods for evaluating the success of your initiatives and the level of interdepartmental collaboration occurring.
- Identify key metrics based on your action items to measure the success of your initiatives.
- Use the KPI Tracking Tool to track and monitor your progress and identify and address any issues.
About McLean & Company
McLean & Company is an HR research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools, diagnostics, and advisory services that have a clear and measurable impact on your business.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your HR problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 1-phase advisory process. You'll receive 3 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
- Call 1: Interpret and act on your collaboration assessment results
Assess your current state of collaboration. Discuss the Collaboration Assessment Tool results and prioritize your pain points for improvement.
- Call 2: Develop an action plan to improve interdepartmental collaboration
Review the action plan generated by the tool. Discuss the collaboration issues that are of greatest importance for your organization and how to address them. Gain advice for successfully carrying out your action plan items.
- Call 3: Evaluate the effectiveness of your collaboration initiatives
Validate your metrics for measuring the success achieved by your collaboration initiatives. Gain advice for setting realistic short and long-term goals and establish a plan for tracking metrics at regular intervals and sharing results.
Contributors
McLean & Company conducted in-depth interviews with HR professionals and subject-matter experts, to gain a better understanding of Interdepartmental Collaboration.
Expert contributors include:
- Melodie Barnett, Managing Partner, Pivot Communications
- Phil Buckley, Managing Director, Change with Confidence
- Tawni Cranz, Chief Talent Officer, Netflix
- Kristin Kenny, Director of People Operations, Hubspot
- Larry McMullen, Director, Learning and Organizational Development, The Hillman Group
- Vickie Brint, Director, HR, MAPEI
- Rob Dux, Information Technology Manager, Council of Residential Specialists
- Gayle French, HR Director, Chesterfield Australia
- Bryan Goodwin, Chief Operating Officer, McREL International
- Cindy Jamieson, CHRO, McREL International
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