The head of a large financial services division recently asked me how to encourage his people to take more initiative. He explained that his organization was highly functionalized with separate units for sales, trading, investing, portfolio management, credit, risk, and operations; some of which reported to him and some to the corporate center. With this configuration, the only way to get things done — either internally or for clients — was for people from the different functions to take the initiative to work together. But since each unit was mostly concerned with its own priorities and didn’t necessarily see the bigger picture, much of the cross-functional collaboration just didn’t happen organically.
For Successful Collaboration, Think Outside the Box
The head of a large financial services division recently asked me how to encourage his people to take more initiative. He explained that his organization was highly functionalized with separate units for sales, trading, investing, portfolio management, credit, risk, and operations; some of which reported to him and some to the corporate center. With this […]
December 07, 2010
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New!
HBR Learning
Leading People Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Leading People. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
What you need to know about being in charge.