Build Cross-Department Relationships That Protect Your Job

Cross-departmental relationships matter during layoffs. When leadership decides who stays, they consider who understands how the company actually works, not just their own corner of it.

Most people stay within their department boundaries. They know their team, their manager, their immediate projects. When restructuring happens, these people become easy to categorize and easy to cut. They're specialists in a single function, replaceable by anyone with similar credentials.

The people who survive cuts understand the connections between departments. They know what marketing needs from product, what sales struggles with in implementation, what customer service hears that never reaches development. This knowledge makes them harder to eliminate because they see problems others miss.

A 15-minute conversation this week serves a specific purpose. You're not networking for the sake of networking. You're gathering information about how another part of the company operates and what challenges they face that might connect to your work.

Choose someone whose department intersects with yours but isn't your direct collaborator. If you're in finance, talk to someone in operations. If you're in product, talk to someone in customer success. The goal is understanding, not relationship building for its own sake.

Schedule the conversation with a clear purpose: "I'm trying to understand how our departments connect and where the friction points are. Would you have 15 minutes this week to talk about what challenges you're facing?"

During the conversation, ask three questions:

• What takes up most of your time right now?
• What problems keep recurring that you can't seem to solve?
• Where does work from my department help or create obstacles for you?

Take notes. Not because you'll immediately solve their problems, but because you're building a map of how work actually flows through your company. When you understand these connections, you can position your work as essential to operations rather than confined to a single function.

After the conversation, send a brief follow-up thanking them for their time. Mention one specific thing you learned. If you see an opportunity to help with something small, mention it. If not, that's fine too.

The value appears later. When you're in a meeting and someone mentions a problem in another department, you'll understand the context. When leadership asks who can help with a cross-functional project, you'll know what's actually involved. When layoffs come, you'll be someone who understands more than your job description.

This isn't about making friends or building a network in the abstract sense. It's about understanding how your company operates beyond what you see from your desk. That understanding becomes valuable when leadership needs people who can work across boundaries rather than within them.

Fifteen minutes this week. One conversation. One department you don't normally interact with. The relationship you're building is with the company's actual operations, not just with another person.