Mastering Cross-Functional Collaboration at the Director Level
Success at the Director Level is Built on Relationships
Moving into a director-level role means your job isn’t just about delivering great work—it’s about navigating the complexity of an organization, influencing decision-making, and building strong partnerships across teams.
At this level, success depends on three core areas of cross-functional collaboration:
✔ Managing Up – Aligning with leadership and advocating for your team.
✔ Managing Down – Mentoring and empowering those you lead.
✔ Managing Across – Partnering with peers to drive collective success.
Each requires a different approach, but they all rely on one fundamental skill: building strong, trust-based relationships. Without trust, collaboration becomes transactional. With it, you create partnerships that drive impact, remove friction, and build influence across an organization.
Managing Up: Aligning with Leadership and Advocating for Your Team
Your job as a director is to bridge the gap between leadership’s expectations and your team’s realities. Managing up effectively means:
Understanding leadership’s priorities and connecting your team’s work to business objectives
Anticipating needs and proactively bringing solutions instead of waiting for direction.
Advocating for your team’s resources and visibility while managing expectations.
How to Strengthen These Relationships
Earn trust through consistency. Deliver results reliably, and leadership will trust your judgment.
Communicate with clarity. Senior leaders don’t need every detail—give them the right level of insight.
Be a problem solver, not just a problem identifier. Leadership values solutions, not just roadblocks.
When done well, managing up creates alignment, reduces friction, and ensures your team gets the support they need.
Managing Down: Leading with Trust and Empowerment
Managing a team isn’t about control—it’s about mentorship, guidance, and trust. Your success is measured not just by what you do, but by how well your team performs under your leadership.
Key Ways to Manage Down Effectively
Create clarity. Teams thrive when expectations, goals, and success metrics are clear.
Build confidence. Give your team autonomy and let them own their work. Micromanaging erodes trust.
Provide direct, constructive feedback. A good leader makes people better—not by being overly critical, but by helping them grow.
How to Strengthen These Relationships
Lead with vulnerability. Admit mistakes and show that learning is part of growth.
Invest in your team’s career paths. If they can’t grow under you, they’ll leave.
Be someone they can rely on. Show up, listen, and be their advocate when needed.
A strong team isn’t just about execution—it’s about culture. Empowered, motivated teams create their best work when they know their leader has their back.
Managing Across: Building Partnerships with Peers
One of the biggest shifts at the director level is needing to collaborate across functions—often with people who have different priorities, goals, and even conflicting perspectives. Strong cross-functional relationships make or break success.
Key Ways to Manage Across Effectively
Understand what drives other teams. What are their goals? What pressures do they face?
Find common ground. Success is a shared effort—when one team wins, everyone benefits.
Offer help before you need it. Building goodwill makes it easier to ask for support when the time comes.
How to Strengthen These Relationships
Make it personal. Get to know your peers beyond work. Shared trust builds stronger partnerships.
Find the right balance of confidence and humility. Show expertise, but also be willing to learn from others.
Address conflicts directly, not politically. Avoid passive-aggressiveness—honest conversations build respect.
Cross-functional collaboration isn’t just about getting things done—it’s about creating alignment across an organization so teams work together toward shared success.
How to Strengthen Relationships Across All Levels
Trust, confidence, and vulnerability are the foundation of strong relationships.
Get personal—understand motivations, offer help, and don’t be afraid to ask for it.
Effective leadership isn’t just about managing your team—it’s about influencing across the organization.
People work with people they like and trust—relationships drive impact as much as skills do.
At the director level, the work doesn’t happen in a silo—it happens through relationships, collaboration, and influence. Build those well, and success follows.