In the food and drink industry, almost nothing gets done by one person or one department alone. NPD, commercial, marketing, technical, production and retail all have to pull in the same direction, and when they don’t, it shows. Projects stall, launches slip, and people end up feeling like they’re constantly going into battle instead of working as a team.
You may remember an episode from the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast with Lucy Wager, where we discussed what really makes cross-functional relationships work; and an honest conclusion that it’s mostly about communication, trust and a shift in mindset. You can find that episode here if you’d like to listen.
Strong relationships are the foundation
During the episode, Lucy shared an example from her time as a product developer at Sainsbury’s, where a tight knit “triangle” of NPD, commercial and marketing worked so well together that they were able to launch an entirely new category which was completely ahead of it’s time from scratch, despite having no data to prove it would work. The situation proved that when a small core group builds a genuinely strong bond, that trust radiates outward and makes the wider cross-functional web far easier to navigate.
Naming the barriers
As businesses grow, more structure tends to creep in and with it comes:
- Conflicting priorities and KPIs between departments
- Siloed thinking and an “us vs them” mentality
- A lack of shared understanding of the overall business agenda
The fix starts with clarity: a clearly communicated strategy that everyone understands, plus genuine empathy for what other teams are dealing with.
Swap battle for collaboration
It is important to move cross-functional teams from a place of battle to a place of collaboration, reframing how team members see colleagues from other departments. Rather than treating a difficult stakeholder as “the enemy,” try building an empathy map to help you understand what’s really driving their behaviour and what’s holding them back. Asking “how can we get there together?” rather than “what’s your problem?” shifts the whole tone of a conversation.
Power dynamics matter too. A junior NPD technologist presenting to a senior factory manager who is short on time, them needs to think about those dynamics before walking into the room, not just what they want to say.
Trust is the currency
Cross-functional working runs on trust, and trust is built through small, consistent actions: doing what you say you’ll do, turning up on time, and bringing facts and data when someone needs to be convinced. It also means being comfortable with a constant, ongoing process of negotiation and seeing that as a positive challenge rather than a problem to be endured.
Get the systems and communication right
Good intentions only go so far without the right infrastructure. Utilise stage-gate processes and project management tools as ways to remove ambiguity about who owns what. The food industry, for all its fast-moving energy, often lags behind on this, relying on a patchwork of spreadsheets instead.
Communication channels need agreeing too. Email, Teams, WhatsApp; everyone works differently and without a collective decision on what’s used for what, things get lost and frustration builds. This isn’t a personal preference issue; it’s a business decision that needs everyone’s buy-in.
Where to start
If your cross-functional relationships could be stronger, start small:
- Map out what’s working, what isn’t, and where the bottlenecks are
- Have the honest (even if uncomfortable) conversations about how things are really going
- Agree communication norms as a team, not by default
- Bring in an external facilitator if things feel too entrenched to shift alone
If you’re ready to learn how to navigate the complexities of communication between cross-functional teams, this is for you: https://fearlessfoodies.co.uk/fearlessinfluence/
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