How do you establish trust and rapport with cross-functional team members?

1. Having open communication with constructive feedback 2. The work must be transparent 3. Listening actively, confirming the understanding, and respecting the opinions of others 4. Gaining trust by reliable and consistent deliveries and actions. 5. Showing empathy. 6. Have to build personal connections with cross team members 7. By giving proper recognition and appreciation 8. Respecting the cultural and time differences 9. With collaborative decision making 10. Resolving the conflicts elegantly and with respect 11. Frequent team building events 12. Lead by example and always willing to help 13. Being open to new ideas, being flexible and adaptive 14. Being proactive with issues, task lag, task priorities and dependencies with other teams

To build trust with cross-functional team members, see them as unique individuals, not just roles. Understand their strengths, interests, goals, and challenges. Show genuine curiosity and respect for their expertise. Use surveys, icebreakers, and casual conversations to learn about them. Knowing team members on a personal level improves communication, collaboration, and empathy. It creates a supportive and productive working environment where individuals feel valued and motivated.

Building trust & rapport across cross-functional teams involves several steps: Active Listening: Pay attention to others' perspectives and ideas. Show genuine interest in their input during discussions. Open Communication: Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing opinions, ideas, and concerns without fear of judgment. Transparency: Share information openly and honestly. Avoid withholding information that could impact team members' work or decisions. Respect and Empathy: Respect diverse viewpoints and show empathy towards team members' challenges or opinions, validating their contributions. Collaborative Mindset: Encourage teamwork and collaboration, emphasizing collective goals over individual achievements.

Take the time to understand the perspectives, goals, and challenges of each cross-functional team member. Acknowledge the expertise and contributions of all team members to establish trust. Show understanding towards individual circumstances and challenges.

I focus on open communication, actively listening to their perspectives and aligning our goals to create a sense of shared purpose. By being transparent and consistent in my actions, I demonstrate reliability. Building relationships based on mutual respect and collaboration has always worked for me.

I recommend setting up a communication cadence agreeable to the cross-functional team members at the beginning of the project, otherwise sending frequent emails and chats may end up counterproductive.

Stress the significance of clear and transparent communication among all team members. Set up a team where everyone articulates their thoughts and ideas clearly, actively listen to others, and adapt their communication style to the preferences of different team members.

Emphasize the importance of being open to feedback and constructive criticism. Encourage your team to actively seek feedback from cross-functional team members, consider areas for improvement, and demonstrate a willingness to learn and grow.

Periodic cross-functional stakeholder team or core team debriefs significantly increase cross-functional collaboration and effectiveness. These debriefs don’t have to take long and could well, and should, lead to a culture of openness in routine sharing of feedback for the greater good of the cross-functional cohort. The approach needs to be one of an experience-learning opportunity and not a critique analysis or finger-pointing exercise. “We are here to play the ball, not the player.” Diversity of views are key, and it is important to encourage candour. As the facilitator, ensure this is a safe space to discuss problems, concerns, requirements and accomplishments. Be ‘’slow to talk and fast to listen’’.

Perhaps it is implicit in some of the points already, but creating a psychologically safe environment where there is trust and transparency among team members and they feel safe to speak their mind regardless of their role or position. This valuing of everyone and inclusivity enables team Members to bring their best selves to work.

A debrief should cover both collaboration (e.g. information sharing, asking for/ offering assistance, roles clarity, preparation) and technical aspects’ lessons learnt. How can we work better next time and improve on both aspects? And let’s not forget- what should we repeat in the future, as these worked well? To ensure trust and rapport in a core team-setting, provide praise in the open setting, and have offline discussions if required. If there are any to-be-actioned outcomes, note these and follow through and provide feedback.

I have always told my teams, if we are always agreeing, something is wrong. We need creative abrasion in order to succeed. We need to feel safe and be able to challenge each other. Safe to offer multiple opinions and points of view. Perhaps the most challenging part of this is to create an ecosystem where people are comfortable in this environment. Where they are okay challenging someone as well as being comfortable having their thoughts and ideas challenged. "If we aren't disagreeing, we aren't thinking big enough"