A core hallmark of a consistently winning team is that its members can effectively integrate their individual skills and diverse experiences around a shared goal to achieve high-performance collaboration. This team spirit is vividly embodied by professional athletes and is one reason why a game between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies is so compelling. In short, athletes at the peak of their performance often act like a finely tuned, unified machine.

Enterprises similarly need to cultivate this level of teamwork, communication mechanisms, and consensus-building to achieve organizational agility and ensure business outcomes. Fostering a team of "corporate athletes" among employees not only strengthens the organization's overall capabilities but also enables the enterprise to respond swiftly to challenges while proactively meeting the evolving needs of stakeholders.

In a rapidly changing business landscape, enterprises with greater agility are more likely to succeed, and finance and technology leaders are at the forefront of building this agility. We believe that business leaders who want their organizations to succeed must embrace cross-functional collaboration and commit to working at the intersection of finance and technology.

Embracing technology as a team

As technology continues to be a focal point for business leaders and innovation becomes increasingly woven into the fabric of corporate priorities, having a leadership team that deeply understands how these functions intersect is critical to organizational success. Now is the ideal time to focus on this effort.

According to the findings published by the Deloitte US CIO Program'sCIO Perspectives Reportorganizing, managing, and rationalizing technology strategy within the organization has been ranked as the top priority by CIOs and technology leaders.

Enterprises should consider establishing broader visibility channels between finance and technology leaders to optimize performance and provide greater transparency into each other's functional priorities. This helps deepen both teams' understanding of how to work together to achieve larger organizational goals.

While specialized roles in finance or technology have their own value, organizations can derive greater value from employees by encouraging them to integrate into cross-functional teams and broaden their skill sets. An agile operating model enables employees to develop well-rounded skills, preparing both individuals and the organization for the interconnected challenges of the modern business environment.

Deloitte's 2024 CFO Agenda emphasizes that finance leaders should adopt a technology-savvy mindset and work closely with IT to make informed decisions about how and whether to integrate breakthrough technologies such as AI into workflows.

Employers can cultivate a "team" mindset among employees by combining offensive (innovation-focused) and defensive (security-focused) thinking to achieve broader business goals. Every team member has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share, and leaders should encourage teams to go beyond traditional role boundaries and leverage colleagues' expertise when appropriate.

This way of working requires processes that are more responsive and streamlined. Operational transformation begins with embedding cross-functionality into every team member—a key step toward a dynamic, modern organizational structure.

Cultivating comprehensive understanding

A cross-functional approach lowers the barriers that often prevent business practice leaders from collaborating and communicating effectively. When leaders focus solely on their own business areas, a siloed mindset can easily take root, inadvertently creating silos within the organization. Developing cross-functional leaders requires executives to manage the organization's functions from a holistic perspective rather than in a fragmented manner.

By setting the tone at the top and communicating the expectation that all leaders must collaborate across functions, executives can inspire the entire team to become balanced, well-rounded performers who drive organizational success. True transformation stems from a deeper understanding of the organization's overall strategic priorities, which is what drives value creation. Leaders should actively seek opportunities to innovate operations in order to thrive in the dynamic modern business environment.

Organizations that complete this transformation can expect to gain benefits including unlocking superior problem-solving capabilities, enhanced adaptability, and a stronger foundation of resilience, thereby advancing the business and creating a differentiated competitive advantage.

Strong commitment from the top

Unless there is commitment and support from corporate leadership, the vision described above will be difficult to achieve. Finance and technology leaders, in particular, need to clearly articulate the necessity of synergy between the two functions and commit to empowering teams to collaborate closely on major initiatives. The rise of generative AI (GenAI) provides an excellent opportunity for leaders to put this synergy into practice.

Although Deloitte's Q2 2024 CFO Signals survey shows that GenAI is viewed by CFOs as the top internal risk, they are increasingly turning to talent and successors with emerging technology experience, highlighting that CFOs must expand their skill sets to include technology literacy.

CEOs looking to embed technology into the organization may ask their technology practice leaders to evaluate the best solutions from a functional perspective, while finance teams research investment costs and expected value drivers. Collaboration between technology and finance ensures seamless integration of financial systems, improving data accuracy and efficiency.

Deloitte's proposedAI governance frameworkencourages organizations to establish multidisciplinary teams to advance the company's GenAI agenda within established guardrails. The responsibility for wise investment and strategic implementation lies with the entire organization—not just one team. Furthermore, operational continuity should be ensured beyond the current leadership and potential successors.

Contrary to historical beliefs, strong defense alone does not win championships. Organizations that cling to proven business practices out of fear of failure may fall behind in the competitive landscape.