Why hitting every function's target doesn't guarantee the strategy works
Why hitting every function's goals doesn't guarantee the strategy works
Every function on your team can hit its goals, and the strategy still doesn’t produce results.
That’s usually a coordination problem, not a talent problem. This week’s Featured Musing covers why functional org charts create clarity inside each function but not across them, and what to build so cross-functional work actually connects. Also in this issue: an article on fixing broken handoffs, a take on why managing up matters more than I used to think and how to do it well, and a fascinating video that explains how our ancestors survived sleeping outdoors with predators around, which if nothing else made me feel better about my kids’ sleep schedules.
Cheers,
Kevin
FEATURED MUSING
The Silo Trap
Every team has a plan. Everyone knows their deliverables. Yet still, three months into execution, important things are falling through the cracks, and it’s genuinely unclear whose responsibility it is.
The structural reason is usually the same. Org charts are built around functions—marketing, operations, finance, product, sales. That structure creates clarity within each function. But what it doesn’t create is clarity about how those functions work together when a strategy requires all of them moving in the same direction at the same time. And almost every meaningful strategy does.
So the functional structure that makes day-to-day operations run smoothly often works against cross-functional execution. Teams optimize within their own function because that’s how they’re organized, measured, and managed. And because functional metrics are visible, tracked, and tied to performance reviews, they tend to win whenever cross-functional outcomes compete with them for time and attention.
Leaders spend time defining who owns what within each function but don’t spend nearly enough time thinking through what successful handoffs between functions actually require. What conditions does the receiving team need? What’s the right sequence? What’s the right timing? And what checkpoints need to be built in to confirm things are on track and surface problems before they become blockers? When those questions go unasked, the plan looks complete but has gaps that only appear once implementation is underway.
What It Looks Like in Practice
Each function is hitting its milestones, but the strategy isn’t producing results. Teams are delivering what they were asked to deliver within their own function. But the outcomes the strategy was supposed to generate aren’t materializing because the work isn’t connecting across functions the way the plan assumed.
Cross-functional outcomes don’t get the same attention as functional metrics. Every function has its own scorecard and performance review cycle. Cross-functional progress rarely gets tracked with the same meaningful visibility. So when functional priorities and cross-functional commitments compete for the same time and attention, functional metrics win.
Handoffs between teams aren’t working as planned. What gets delivered doesn’t fit what the receiving team needed. It’s in the wrong form, has the wrong timing, or is missing context that seemed obvious to the team that produced it. The receiving team ends up reworking, waiting, or improvising, and the delay ripples forward.
Problems surface late, when options for solving them have already narrowed. Teams hold onto issues longer than they should because there’s no structured forum to raise them cross-functionally, or because surfacing a problem early can feel like falling behind. So challenges that could have been addressed weeks earlier end up as crises with high impact on a key deliverable.
A Few Questions Worth Considering
When you built the execution plan, did you also map the handoffs between functions? Were you explicit about the conditions, sequence, and timing each team needs to receive work and move forward?
Are cross-functional outcomes tracked with the same visibility as functional metrics? If a team had to choose between hitting their functional goals and investing time in cross-functional coordination, what would they probably do?
Are your cross-functional dependencies documented? If a team leader described what they’re counting on from another function and when, would that other function agree?
Do your teams have structured cross-functional touchpoints with actual decision-making conversations across functions about how the work is connecting, not just status updates within them?
When problems have surfaced during execution, how early did they come up? If they tend to arrive late and fully formed, there’s probably no good mechanism for raising them earlier.
What to Do About It
Closing the Silo Trap means deliberately designing the coordination layer that the org chart doesn’t provide, and giving cross-functional accountability the same meaningful visibility and controls as functional accountability. That starts with mapping dependencies before execution begins, defining handoffs with the same rigor as the work itself, and building structured checkpoints into the plan from the start.
A few specific tools help make this practical:
an accountability chart that defines who decides what across the key deliverables of the strategy, cutting across functional lines
quarterly planning sessions that surface cross-functional dependencies before execution begins
monthly red flag sessions that give teams a safe space to raise problems early
and cross-functional checkpoints that keep teams coordinated as the work progresses and give leadership visibility into how the pieces are connecting, not just how each function is performing on its own.
If you want to go deeper on how to build these into your execution process, I cover the tools and techniques in The Strategy Trap.
COORDINATION
Three Fixes for a Broken Matrix
Coordination breakdowns between functions usually trace back to the same root cause: no clear owner for the handoff. I really like how this article on matrix team management lays out three solid fixes with a focus on simplicity and avoidance of bureaucracy. Step one is a decision rights audit to map out who actually decides what, so approvals stop bouncing between people who each assume it’s someone else’s call. Step two is single-threaded ownership that assigns one name on each deliverable instead of splitting accountability across a team. And third is a fifteen-minute weekly handoff check that catches what’s stuck before it turns into a fire drill. All of it really is just about clarity on who owns what and a regular checkpoint to catch problems early.
COMMUNICATION
Managing Up Isn’t Sucking Up
I used to have a real aversion to managing up. My thinking was that if my boss needed something handled, that was their job, not mine. What changed my mind is realizing managing up is really about your team, not your boss. It’s how you get access to decisions being made in rooms you’re not in, pick up a broader view of what’s coming, and secure resources your team actually needs to do the work. I really liked this article on managing up because it lays out practical tips for doing that well, from both sides. From the leadership side, building that same kind of relationship is what creates the psychological safety that makes real collaboration possible.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
— often attributed to Henry Ford
INTERESTING
How We Didn’t Get Eaten
For most of human history, our ancestors slept on open ground in the prairies with predators nearby, and somehow we made it through this stretch to become the dominant species on the planet. This video breaks down the mechanics of how that actually worked, from group sleeping patterns to how our senses and instincts adapted to handle the risk. And now I’m less mad that my kids sleep till noon. Apparently, that was all part of the protection scheme.
😀 AND NOW…YOUR MOMENT OF HAPPINESS 😀
I can totally relate to this one during this heat wave.
My Amazon #1 bestselling book, The Strategy Trap: Why Companies Fail at Execution and How to Get It Right, is now available!
If you’ve ever struggled to turn team agreement into consistent action, the book goes deep on how to fix that—with practical tools, real-world stories, and a framework for turning strategy into results. If you know someone who wrestles with the gap between plan and execution, please forward this along.
the diagnostic questions here are sharper than most org design content I read. "If a team had to choose between hitting functional goals and cross-functional coordination, what would they do" should be asked out loud in every planning cycle.