Checklist: What you need for better cross-functional collaboration

Collaboration matters more than ever for marketing teams.

We'd love to sit here and say that team siloes are a rarity; almost as extinct as dinosaurs, floppy disks, and your noble ambition of bringing in a packed lunch every office day. But unfortunately, that would be a huge lie.

When you feel like you're speaking an entirely different language to sales, product, customer success, and so on, your marketing is broken.

Why collaboration matters so (SO) much

Sure, silos are comfortable, but they’re also costly. The split between teams slow down projects, create friction, and make it harder to hit big, business-changing goals.

Strong cross-functional collaboration and more integrated marketing is the antidote. It fuels innovation, speeds up decision-making, and helps everyone pull in the same direction. And it’s not just for leadership—when teams at every level work well together, it’s easier to launch campaigns, solve problems, and deliver results that will well and truly get your CMO's attention.

That’s where this checklist comes in. Think of it as your quick-start guide to creating smoother workflows, better relationships, and more productive teams.

3 signs your silos have been slowing you down

1. You hear about new initiatives from other departments after they’ve launched.

2. Work gets duplicated—or worse, undone—because of misalignment.

3. “It’s not my job” has become an unofficial team motto.

Collaboration quick wins: Out with the old, in with the new

❌ Out with: Weekly meetings to discuss every single thing on everyone's to-do list, boring the hell out of 90% people involved

✅ In with: Short, sharp, and focused stand-ups that don't beat around the bush

❌ Out with: Multiple tools and platform that do anything but provide a single source of truth

✅ In with: Streamlined project management tools, like Optimizely Content Marketing Platform

❌ Out with: Only celebrating wins within your teams because you don't think anyone will care

✅ In with: Regularly celebrating cross-team success (no matter how small) so people can see what the fuss is about

The collaboration checklist for marketing leaders

1) Clear communication channels

Yek si noitacinummoc raelc.

☝️ That took you a while, didn't it? When it comes to real good collaboration, communication is so important. Clear communication at that. Without it, you get crossed wires, missed deadlines, inconsistent messaging, and a lot of meetings-that-could-be-an-email.

Here are our tips for setting up clearer communication channels:

• Regular touchpoints: Stand-ups, weekly syncs, or monthly cross-team reviews keep everyone aligned and accountable.

• Shared tools: Project management and communication platforms (um.. did we mention Optimizely?) make it easy to centralize updates and decisions.

• Active listening: Give people space to contribute, and show you’ve heard them by acting on feedback.

⚠️ Signs your communication is broken: You hear “I didn’t know that was happening” more than once a week (cue: dagger to every marketer's heart).

2) Defined roles and responsibilities

If you can't give a clear answer about who is responsible for what, then things are unlikely to move forward between teams.

To avoid stagnancy for your own marketing team and as a business, follow these quick and (ideally) easy steps:

• Eliminate overlap and gaps: Clearly assign ownership so work isn’t duplicated—or forgotten.

• Use a RACI matrix: RACI = Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, and this matrix prevents confusion and finger-pointing—this can play across straight into your workflow templates to close those damn feedback loops.

• Empower ownership: Give people the authority to make decisions within their scope; no one likes people stepping on other people's toes (#badvibes).

💡 Quick win: Before starting a new project, spend 10 minutes defining who’s in charge of what—and write it down.

3) Shared goals and vision

When each department is chasing a different set of KPIs, not only are you gonna clash but you'll struggle to see collective progress.

For the ultimate cross-functional collaboration, you need to group together to:

• Align on objectives: Tie department goals to wider business outcomes so everyone’s working toward the same finish line.

• See the bigger picture: Share roadmaps, key milestones, and strategic priorities beyond individual teams—this might look like department representatives joining your tiger team on a regular basis, or sharing marketing plans on all-company calls.

• Celebrate collective wins: Recognize cross-team efforts to reinforce collaboration as a cultural norm.

⚠️ Sign your goals aren’t aligned: Your success metrics clash with another team’s.

4) Building trust and relationships

Good cross-functional collaboration is about a combination of processes... and people. To build more trust and stronger relationships between departments, there are a few things you can do, including:

• Promote openness and accessibility: Make it okay to share ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear.

• Make empathy a habit: Encourage teams to understand each other’s pressures, deadlines, and constraints.

• Create connection points: From virtual coffee chats to in-person offsites, make time for human moments.

💡 Quick win: Start cross-team meetings with a quick personal check-in or icebreaker to build rapport.

5) Effective conflict resolution

In the big, bad, real-life world of work, differences are inevitable. But it's how you handle these differences that determines team health and how good your cross-functional collaboration can be.

Our advice? Sure, seeing as you asked so nicely:

• Address issues early: Don’t let tension fester into full-blown roadblocks.

• Focus on solutions: Shift conversations from “who’s at fault” to “how do we fix this?”

• Bring in a mediator: A neutral party can help resolve tricky situations before they derail projects.

⚠️ Sign conflict is hurting performance: Deadlines are slipping because teams are avoiding each other.

Putting the checklist into action

• Start small: Pick one weak spot to improve first, rather than overhauling everything at once (because we all know, change is a scary thing—check out our guide on how to improve your change management process).

• Lead from the front: As a marketing leader, you should model the collaboration habits you want to see.

• Review and refine: Make this checklist a living document—revisit it quarterly to adapt to changing priorities and team structures.

Next stop: Collaboration station 🚂

Cross-functional collaboration isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s the engine that keeps high-performing teams moving in sync.

By focusing on clear communication, shared goals, trust, and healthy conflict resolution, you’ll not only break down silos but also build a workplace where great ideas and great results happen more often.

The checklist is ready. Now it’s your turn to put it into practice.

Check out our 10 step guide to an integrated marketing strategy.