Perhaps you work in a large company, and every day when you ride the elevator up to your floor, you wonder what all those people do who exit on the floors before and after yours. Or, maybe you’re at a smaller business, but it’s not until a company get-together where you talk to someone with a different job that you realize how little you know about their work-related specialties, goals, and concerns.

If so, you’re not alone. Traditionally, most companies have been built around functional departments: people with the same skill set — sales, marketing, design, production, and so on — being grouped together in so-called “silos” of expertise.

While silos are great for storing grain, they can limit an organization’s operational effectiveness due to a lack of communication, shared goals, and collaboration. To address those issues, deploy cross-functional teams (CFTs) in businesses large and small to increase innovation, improve communication, and accelerate project results.

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