One of the best things a business can do is to separate their different functions into divisions. It is a tremendous opportunity for the business to organize individuals into specialized categories because you have like-minded people all working together.
Whether their desks are directly side by side, or they are all located in the same wing (or branch), you can have everyone focused on the same goals and objectives by keeping them together. That being said, if you only have your employees going after one objective, then they can work against each other. That’s why bringing employees from separate disciplines and divisions will do wonders to create efficiency in the workplace.
Everyone focuses on end goal
While the accountants may want to gather their financial data, and the R&D department wants to produce cutting edge technology, the total goal of the organization is to generate legitimate profits for the owners and investors of the company.
By bringing people together you will not only allow them to all get on the same page but in the process, you can get them to better see how their specific roles fit into the big picture. When you consider the words by UX Matters, you can see that the only real question you have to ask your entire organization is what is the end goal?
Too many times specific departments will get caught up in their specific objectives or will try to sacrifice long-term goals to capture short-term performance targets. However, when you consider the overall organization and how all of the pieces work together, if you can have multiple people on the same page for the primary end goals, you will see teams working together and for each other rather than as individual units.
Sharing of ideas
When you think about the number of people who operate in their independent unit, you can start to imagine all of the waste that occurs. The larger the organization is, the greater the rate of reinventing the wheel.
When you have tens, hundreds, or even thousands of employees, the truth is you can completely lose out on time and productivity due to the number of people who have to look up the same information, brainstorm the same strategies, and even come up with decisions.
This is all before you think about the number of ideas that were created in a vortex which will only be thrown onto the scrap heap because they don’t align with the goals of other departments.
With the ability to use group video messaging by BlueJeans, members in one function can talk to employees in other functions in no time at all. That will not only get people on the same page, but it will avoid wasted time like no other efficiency possible.
When you throw in the ability for different segments of the company to work together, you can start to see new efficiency as employees think about how a decision they will make can affect the other segments and lines as well.
Exposure to new ideas
If you have a handful of accountants looking at the same problem, then chances are they will all approach the problem in the same way. There is also a chance that they will all view the problem in the same classification, will want to arrive at the same outcome, and will even define success under the same parameters. However, when you can bring in people from the outside and who are used to viewing things differently, the entire process will be looked at from another point of view.
This is a wonderful opportunity because redesign could happen, waste could be cut, and new solutions could be generated within no time at all. If you continue to look at the same processes and problems in the same way, then you will only continue to come up with the same solutions.
According to Sandler, you can also increase the learning in addition to the creativity and new solutions aspect. As long as your employees continue to learn then, they will continue to grow, and the company can only benefit as a result.
There are many ways to move the organization forward, but one of the easiest ways to get ahead is to bring your employees together and let them unify towards the common goals of any company. When it comes time to deferring to your employees, you have to trust that they will make the best decisions about what they do on a daily basis.
The only thing you can do to improve the process is to give them a chance to think outside the box and find even better ways to perform in their role. So long as you can bring your employees together for more collaboration, the results will become apparent in no time at all.