Cross-Functional Meetings

Dear Import/Export Compliance Manager,

I’m in a new position and am slowing figuring out how to work with other departments like Sales, R&D and Technical Support.  I have heard of import/export compliance people conducting regular cross-functional meetings with representatives from other departments but I have no experience with this myself.  Do you and, if so, can you explain how you would make it work?

Reaching Out in Rolla

Dear Reaching Out,

The Import/Export Compliance Manager is a very big fan of cross-functional meetings.  Now that he has logistics under his purview and thus even more reason to get mad at interact with other departments, cross-functional meetings are a no-brainer.  The question of whether they’re still a good idea for import/export compliance managers is something he hasn’t really thought about, but has no problem thinking out loud in the form of a column.  Let’s walk through this, shall we?

So first, let’s define cross-functional meetings.  The Import/Export Compliance Manager’s definition of cross-functional meeting is a regularly-scheduled meeting of personnel from at least two different departments whose tasks and/or responsibilities somehow overlap.  The meetings serve multiple purposes, including:

• Getting to know one another’s functions (understanding each other as each other’s “internal customer”)

  
  

• Ensuring that each department is aware of large projects the other is working on which may affect them

  
  

• Getting perspective on company-wide happenings from the other department (ex. whoa, what did you guys think of us acquiring this new company?)

  
  

• And otherwise ensuring that the groups are familiar enough with each other that they can work well together between meetings

For attendees, you want to be sure to bring in people who have the power to make decisions, but are not so high that they do not know the details of individual processes.  The Import/Export Compliance Manager prefers to keep an action item tracker in a spreadsheet to provide an agenda for the meetings, remind everyone of what is being worked on and to make a record of what has been accomplished.  No item is too miniscule to have on the action item tracker; in fact, the easier ones to knock out are often great examples of ‘Hey, I wish we’d known that (insert easy fix here) years ago!’

With a number of ongoing cross-functional meetings on the Import/Export Compliance Manager’s schedule, he feels like he has come up with the evolutionary steps for the meetings:

• First Meeting: Will the other department think I have too much time on my hands in setting up this meeting?

• After First Meeting:  “OK, OK, we have some stuff in common.  Maybe this will work out.”

• After Second Meeting:  “Hey, we’re getting some things done.”

• After Third Meeting:  We’re reaching out to each between meetings, telling jokes during the meetings and the meetings are getting much shorter (because we’re resolving all of our issues, leaving not as much to do and update).

  
  

So, should dedicated import/export compliance managers conduct regularly-scheduled cross-functional meetings?  Looking back on it, these meetings are a sign of healthy interdepartmental relationships.  For the Import/Export Compliance Manager, setting up such meetings initially served as a shot of adrenaline to get the Import/Export Compliance Manager’s department really working well with others, some of whom his team had little interaction with and knew little about.  Even departments that you work lightly with are good to have a cross-functional meeting with, but once a month instead of more frequently.  When you set them up, start slow with a 30 minute meeting and be very, very attuned as to how they feel about it to see whether you should continue with the meetings or give them up.  The best possible response is ‘No no, let’s keep meeting’.  And, eventually, the best possible response is ‘Yeah, we don’t need to meet as often’.   Good luck!