Everyone benefits when goals and initiatives are shared openly in the workplace.

“Managers have to constantly interact with other parts of the organization to do their jobs well,” writes Christine Alemany for SmartBrief. As a departmental head, you need to be able to explain to the other managers what your team's goals are, how you plan to achieve them, and why that is good for the company.”

Alemany shares three ways to make sure you’re communicating across departments:

• Collaborate. “Often, collaboration between departments can break down silos and spur innovation. Someone who is not directly involved in your day-to-day activities might have valuable insights,” writes Alemany.

While this doesn’t always take the form of intense teamwork, just giving other departments notice about upcoming projects and changes can pay off for everyone.

“Unwarranted frustrations can easily be avoided if one department's objectives can be supported by the other departments.” she writes.

• Share goals. Once you’ve shared your upcoming projects with the rest of your colleagues, it’s time to share your goals. This helps other teams and higher management understand the organization’s priorities as a whole.

“Outline the strategic process you have plotted to reach your goal, and share it with other teams to ensure everyone's resources and priorities are aligned,” she writes. “Workers will live up to plan expectations and prioritize them if you help them understand their roles in the company hitting its projections.”

• Gain support. If you need help from other departments, it’s important to come prepared with supporting information about your initiative while you make the ask.

“Actionable data helps take the conversation from personal to practical,” writes Alemany. “The more supporting data you get from marketing, finance, sales, product development, and other teams, the simpler it will be to implement your plan without getting tons of blowback.”