How do I Choose Members of a Cross-Functional Team?
The group’s mission plays a major factor in team selection. Will it solely provide feedback to others? Will it have a specific project to complete? Will you need a small project team of experts or will you require a larger group, with a broad range of backgrounds represented, for brainstorming? Answers to these questions will help you narrow your selection.
Generally, in selecting team members, you should look for people with both knowledge in their functional areas and strong interpersonal skills, although you should be realistic enough to set aside people skills if the project has a strong technical bias. If the project calls for a major shift in organizational direction, you should know, too, that you will be better off with people who are unafraid of change than with individuals with caretaker mentalities.
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Needless to say, you want individuals who are interested enough in the project to give sufficient time to it. If a prospective member doesn’t see participation as a worthwhile challenge, then another candidate is better for consideration. Look also for diversity in putting together your team. Limiting the group to people with interests similar to each other or your own would be limiting the final result as well.
You should also look for creative thinkers for your team, although you don’t want only hotshot thinkers. You should have more-traditional problem solvers as well on board. The best teams are made up of both types of individuals. Creative innovators will give you an out-of-the-box idea but may not have the patience to hang in there during implementation that adapters or modifiers have. The latter are also more likely to find ways to make those breakthrough ideas work.
Further, bringing highly creative individuals who only think out of the box into a project whose goal is continuous improvement will only frustrate the creative persons because their approach to problem solving goes far beyond the goal of the project.