Take a moment and think about the various departments within your business or organization. How many employees does each department have? What are the primary functions and responsibilities of each department or employee? And more importantly, are all your teams working together and moving in the same direction?
Every company or organization is managed through multiple departments or business functions. Each of these departments is responsible for managing specific tasks in the business. And for any meaningful work to be done, communication between and across departments must remain clear and open.
No one department or function can exist in isolation as they are all connected to each other. There needs to be a working way for your teams to communicate. Effective interdepartmental communication is essential for your business’s continued growth and success.
What is Interdepartmental Communication?
Interdepartmental communication is defined as the process of sharing information between a business’s department. It’s about multiple departments connecting and collaborating with each other to maintain a seamless experience or create a product or service for customers. Regardless of how many departments or employees your organization has, interdepartmental communication is crucial for the business to run smoothly and seamlessly. So, how do you get your departments to collaborate and maintain clear and open communication? Here are a five strategies to consider:
Incorporate DevOps for Software Development
In today’s ever-changing digital world, companies are increasingly adopting practices that establish good collaboration and communication between cross-functional teams. In the software development industry, this approach is referred to as DevOps. Cultivating a DevOps culture can help not only improve interdepartmental communication but also efficiently deliver value to customers.
This is especially true if you run a software development company. Simply put, DevOps refers to a software delivery approach that emphasizes collaboration between development and operation teams to meet the needs of the organization and the end-user. Numerous courses are available to learn DevOps online (that can help streamline your efforts). Benefits of this methodology include:
- Better collaboration. Getting developers, network engineers, quality assurance, and other stakeholders to work together can be challenging. Adopting a DevOps culture establishes an increased level of trust and collaboration, which allows for more creativity, innovation, and efficiency.
- Increased employee engagement. DevOps gets everyone in your teams to work towards a common goal, thereby increasing employee engagement.
- Minimal defects. Organizations that incorporate DevOps were found to have 60 times fewer failures and errors than those that didn’t adopt a DevOps approach, according to a State of DevOps report.
- Enhanced job satisfaction. By adopting a DevOps culture, your organization removes all the bureaucratic barriers and establishes a more open and performance-based business environment. This results in a more contented and satisfied workforce.
Communicate and Meet Regularly
Start by encouraging employees across departments to meet regularly. But you also realize that may not be possible if you don’t set up the right channels and tools for communication. Tools such as Zoom, Asana, and Slack can be helpful if your employees work remotely. Cultivate an environment of respect and trust so it’s easy for your employees to help each other out whenever they meet. Encourage them to share their needs and give honest feedback on what they think you can do to grow the business.
Cultivate Empathy
When two people don’t understand each other, each person ends up regarding the other with disdain or suspicion. And when this happens between people or teams from different departments, discord is inevitable. Having a mutual understanding among your employees and between departments can help improve interdepartmental communication.
Encourage a sense of curiosity in your organization to help your employees learn and understand each other’s work. Plus, some of the challenges faced by their co-workers from different departments. As a result, it will become easier for them to “put themselves in each other’s shoes” whenever there’s a misunderstanding.
Establish Cross-Functional Teams
You may have noticed that it’s natural for people working in the same department to know each other and build relationships. However, this is usually not the case with people from different departments. How would you know someone in another department when there isn’t an opportunity to work together?
Establishing teams made up of employees from different departments can be a great way to improve interdepartmental communication. The goal is to get them to team up and work together on key projects or a common goal.
Provide Context
Each department has its own responsibilities. However, that doesn’t mean they act independently or in isolation. It’s important that every employee and department has a big-picture viewpoint in which they know their work contributes to the organization’s goals and vision.
Sit down with all your departmental teams and let them know how their individual work or functions benefit the organization. Schedule regular meetings where wins are celebrated. Be sure to highlight what role each department plays so your employees can understand they’re all working towards a common vision. Also, consider having interdepartmental meetings where employees can share information and engage around the shared goals and objectives.