Cross-Functional Teams:Transfering Knowledge to Improve Saves Productivty

Susan L. Hodder
Senior Consultant, KTI

At KAO Systems in Plymouth, Massachusetts, every new software release is an opportunity for growth. KAO is one of the largest outsourcing vendors of technical manufacturing services for companies like Hewlett- Packard, America OnLine, and Microsoft. In fact, if you've purchased a copy of Windows 95, there is a good chance that the CD-ROM or diskettes it came on were manufactured and written at KAO.

Like many companies today, KAO began looking for ways to maximize resources. The company decided to restructure its sales organization from a traditional, hierarchical operation to one of cross-functional account teams that would enable individuals to expand their focus on meeting customers' needs. The team dynamic would require those with specialized areas of knowledge to become generalists: a former scheduler, for example, would need to understand sales strategy, revenue, margins, inventories, and product specifications. In this process, team members would encounter a host of new dimensions, metrics, and variables, so retraining the staff became critical.

"We needed to provide support training and reorientation to 50 people about to be thrown into roles they'd never played before. We wanted to give the specialists the tools they'd need in order to become generalists and be better equipped to respond effectively to customers. And we needed to make the transition as painless, and as positive, as possible," explains Bill Grotevant, Director of Human Resources. KAO enlisted Knowledge Transfer International (KTI) to accomplish this goal through a combination of standup- and computer-based training (CBT) on CD-ROM.

Planning for success
Training requirements included building expertise in the areas of operations, finance, marketing, and team building/leadership. The project began early in 1995 with a training curriculum design, followed by the development of the courseware and delivery of a train-the-trainer program in mid-summer. The CD-ROM portion of the project, an effort to consolidate and digitally document the training, began in the late summer and was completed in November.

Initially, there were some concerns about "outsiders" developing something that was viewed as extremely corporate culture-centric. This is a fear common to many organizations when business process reengineering requires the creation of a cross-functional team. In addition to recognizing the expertise of a variety of contributors, an effective team requires the participants to relinquish some controls and initiate others, in order to achieve the group's objectives. The idea of managing such a complex process with so many creative contributors also raised a few eyebrows within KAO. All concerns rapidly disappeared, however, once the development teams were put into place.

A winning combination of people and tools
Two teams were created to address the design and development of all paper, platform, and digitally based training. The first team focused on the development of the courseware, and the second on the design and adaptation of the material for CD-ROM presentation. Each team was comprised of subject matter experts (SMEs) from KAO, and training experts from KTI and Beacon Learning, a CBT and multimedia company that would develop the CD-ROM.

When Eileen Paris, Project Manager and KTI Consultant kicked off the project, KAO had already completed much of the initial needs analysis, and had identified key topic modules. Eileen helped build an expert team of consultants who specialized in course development for the operations, financial, and marketing areas. "KTI team members were paired with KAO SMEs in each area, which ensured a remarkably smooth co-development effort," explains Paris. "There was a great deal of mutual respect and understanding among all members of the team. Our final product consisted of an instructor guide with overheads, notes and/or scripts, and facilitation tips; and student materials that include handouts, activities, and exercises supporting a dynamic course delivery."

After the first team completed the delivery portion of the project, the second team began designing the best way to adapt the material to a new medium: CD-ROM. Tamara Berger led the combined consulting team in developing scripts from the courseware, and gathering existing KAO materials, including still photos and video. Using these building blocks, they created a dynamic presentation about KAO Systems and the effectiveness of cross-functional teams. Berger notes, "The combined efforts of the development teams showed immediate results. The people here responded well to the training: they liked what they were being asked to do and reported greater job satisfaction."

Initially, the reengineering process provoked considerable anxiety among company staff, who had experienced a small reduction in force as a result of the streamlining and reorganization effort. "We hoped that this training would be a good way to get people's feet back on the ground, and help them to be successful," notes Bill Grotevant. "We are very pleased with the state of our cross-functional teams. We're into a fine-tuned mode now. Our team leaders accompany sales reps to key accounts and provide knowledgeable support in all aspects of the account's activities."

Unexpected benefits
As it turns out, the building and training of successful cross- functional teams is only one of the benefits realized by KAO. The CD is now being used as a marketing tool on sales calls with all of KAO's strategic accounts. When Bill Grotevant showed his boss, CEO Peter McGuirk, the CD-ROM, McGuirk liked it so much that he showed it to the chair of the board of KAO's parent company, a $9 billion Tokyo corporation. "Our CD got the focused attention of the highest levels of management, and they loved it!" said Grotevant. "We've led the way with the application of this technology at KAO, and shown that it's `do-able' at a reasonable cost. Now some of the other subsidiaries are interested in this format for publishing information about their corporate culture, products, and services. It's tremendous!"

Grotevant gives a lot of the credit for the success of this project to strong leadership from the consulting and internal team leaders. The development teams themselves became a model for exactly what KAO was trying to create: cross functional teams that could provide products and services on time and within budget. The team metaphor permeated all interaction, resulting in a creative collaboration that continues to efficiently meet the needs of KAO and their customers.

About the author
Susan Hodder is a Senior Consultant with KTI in Cambridge, MA. E-mail Susan at SHodder12@AOL.com.