Interface News has previously reported that Scott Page, a professor at the University of Michigan, believes that the best teams are often those whose members have different backgrounds, thinking patterns and knowledge structures. A new study from Harvard Business School tells us how to maximize the value of collaboration as cross-border teamwork becomes more and more common.

With the prevalence of project-based work systems and the boom of the gig economy, today’s professionals find themselves working more and more frequently with different colleagues and even partners from different corporate organizations. Whether in the field of business or social development, we can see cross-border cooperation: employees of the Japanese IT giant Fujitsu and experts from the maker space TechShop collaborated to develop the first mobile makerspace; The Coca-Cola Company, USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank and the non-profit organization TechnoServe collaborated to help Haitian farmers who grow mangoes improve their business strategies and income; multinational companies, local government agencies and startups joined forces to transform a dilapidated neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris into an ecological and technological "smart" neighborhood.

Bringing people from different fields together to use their diverse knowledge and skills to develop new products, new services or solve complex problems is the original intention of cross-border cooperation. However, cross-border cooperation does not mean that everything will be fine if different people sit at the same table. Most people bring their own industry values ​​and positions. How can we allow them to express their opinions and learn from each other under different backgrounds and spark sparks of inspiration?

A joint study from Harvard Business School and Montreal Business School seeks to answer this question. Researchers found that among the various differences among cross-border team members, educational and functional backgrounds most significantly shape personal opinions and beliefs, and shape status and prestige.

The researchers explain the operating mechanism of cross-border cooperation teams based on the IMOI framework, namely input, mediator, output, and re-input: members bring their knowledge into the cooperation field to stimulate team interaction; the contrast in members' knowledge structures emerges during the interaction, prompting members to coordinate with each other and reach consensus; members reflect on their own perspectives and working methods in the process, and learn new skills and thinking patterns to solve problems; the project achieves the purpose of cooperation, and the members' own skills are improved.

Researchers believe that the success of cross-border teamwork depends largely on whether the human resources department provides sufficient support in process design. To this end, they made the following recommendations:

1. Cross-border teams need strong leadership

When the backgrounds of the cooperating parties are too different, the barriers to cooperation will be very high, which directly leads to a potential threat that the members' willingness to cooperate will be reduced and work efficiency will be reduced. Therefore, cross-border teams need a strong leader who fully understands the characteristics of cooperative tasks, knows how to stimulate the potential of different members, and helps the team better face challenges.

2. Face-to-face communication is very important, it is best not to work remotely

In order to cross the barriers of knowledge systems, cross-border teams need more frequent face-to-face communication than ordinary teams. Team members need to communicate in a comfortable and safe psychological environment and have sufficient time to think. Although remote working is very popular among today's young professionals, it has a negative effect in cross-border cooperation because it will reduce various formal or informal communication opportunities between team members.

3. When a new member arrives, help him integrate into the team smoothly

When a new member joins a cross-border cooperation team, he faces many uncertainties, which are no less severe than joining a new company. Therefore, cross-border teams need to provide help for the smooth integration of new members so that they can understand and adapt to the new environment as soon as possible. Relevant measures include leading new members to visit the project work site, organizing team ice-breaking activities, and discussing the basic consensus and values ​​of the team. These measures can help team members develop a sense of team identity while understanding their differences.

In addition, cross-border cooperation is actually a great opportunity for employee training: employees will increase their knowledge outside their field through cross-border cooperation; improve their skills in teamwork and solving complex problems; expand their cooperation networks and increase the possibility of other cooperation in the future.

Researchers suggest that in teams working on complex and innovative tasks, team leaders provide team members with mature personal career development opportunities, which should be considered even before the team is formed - HR departments can assign employees to different projects based on their individual abilities and development needs.