Cross-functional working takes effort
In my latest article in NZ Management Magazine, I reflect on the experiences of moving from an office with windows and a door into an open-plan workspace in a tall, “stacked” building.
Unlike our previous location, this building was filled with staff rather than classrooms, so I was looking forward to bumping into even more colleagues in the building’s lobby and lifts and finding even more opportunities for cross-functional working.
While such opportunities have played out well across the single-level, open-plan workspace that I have shared with my colleagues, the same cannot be said around creating new relationships with those working on the other floors. In fact, brief smiles and elevator chats aside, I have hardly met or worked with anyone new.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the approach of ‘stacking’ workspaces on floor upon floor, without knowing who is working above and below you, or what kind of work is being done, impedes rather than encourages cross-functional working and collegial interactions.
Spreading people across larger floors may well be the better model.
When our former offices are refurbished, 220 of us will be ‘together’ across three floors. Will we get to know each other better and work more collaboratively in these ‘stacked up’ and ‘spread out’ spaces in our new neighbourhoods? Time will tell.
Regardless of whether we are stacked up or spread out, I have learned that, if we are to fully enjoy the benefits of cross-functional and cross-disciplinary working, we will all have to make an effort.
Read the full article in NZ Management magazine
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