Last time we looked at teams that are out of sync with their external environment.
Now, let's look at the other type of misalignment that forms,
which is interpersonally within the team.
Interpersonal misalignments were one of the main causes of Microsoft's decline
in the 2000s,
after having been one of the most cutting edge technology companies in the world.
Microsoft missed the boat on some of the major innovations that drove tech sector
growth in that decade.
Even in areas where the company had an early advantage.
For example, Microsoft engineers produced an early prototype of an e-reader tablet
but were still beaten by Amazon's Kindle, and Apple's iPad.
So, how did a tech giant that seemed unstoppable in the 90s,
turn into a modern goliath in the 2000s?
One of the key reasons is that deep internal divisions formed within Microsoft
teams, that prevented them from collaborating effectively.
Much of this was caused by the company's stack ranking system.
Now, stack ranking is a form of performance assessment where the manager
of a team has to rank each member from top to bottom during regular reviews.
Those at the top get rewarded and promoted.
Those at the bottom stay stagnant, or they may even get fired.
The system is designed to motivate employees through competition.
The problem with so much at stake, the competition can become counter productive
and actually create distrust and hostility in the team.
And this is especially true at Microsoft,
where each manager had to identify a bottom tier on their team,
even if they felt every one of their employees was productive and talented.
Former engineers and software developers say that this caused them to focus more
on protecting their own jobs, than supporting the team and the company.
They've learned bad habits like giving their teammates just enough information to
appear helpful but not so much that others could get ahead of them in the rankings.
This really damaged Microsoft's ability to be innovative.
To develop new market leading products requires a lot of collaboration and
group creativity.
It's important that ideas flow freely and
that team members be willing to support one another in achieving collective goals.
But many of the team members at Microsoft developed personal interest that
conflicted with the common goal of innovation.
These interpersonal misalignment form for different reasons.
In the last module, we talked about how individuals and
teams are always asking the WIIFM question.
What's in it for me?
We talked about how your team goals should align with each person's individual goals.
The challenge is those goals can change.
Over time, as a junior colleague develops for example,
she might have new career aspirations that conflict with the team's purposes.
Maybe if she feels like she's outgrown her role on the team.
Other things can change at work and at home that affect our goals.
If you start a family or get involved in a new team at work, your commitment to your
original team might decrease as your obligations demand more and
more time and energy.
Individual team members with different communication styles might develop
conflicts over time.
So, when these interpersonal miss alignments emerge.
Why do they often stay hidden until they blow up in to a big issue like a tense
argument or someone leaving the group?
It often has to do with a concept called psychological safety.
I know that sounds really academic but the idea is actually simple.
Psychological safety is the sense team members have that they can take risks.
Risks can mean things like admitting to a mistake or
addressing a conflict on the team, raising another issue publicly.
And why are these risks?
Because nobody want to feel left out of the group.
This makes us afraid of raising issues that could be embarrassing for us or for
someone else or that could lead to some other bad consequence,
like being demoted or fired.
And this is why it can be so hard to notice and
talk about interpersonal misalignments.
Imagine someone at Microsoft, trying to say to her manager, hey,
I think this company wide staff ranking policy is a really bad idea,
because it makes me want to protect my own job and not help my teammates.
It would be a really tough conversation to have that carries a lot of risk for her.
So she probably wouldn't raise the issue.
It can be equally hard to say to your teammates,
I've been involved in another project for the past couple of months and
it's really more important to me than the project that I'm working on with you.
And that's why I haven't been as committed to this team recently.
What we're seeing is that misalignment forms easily.
They can happen between team and their external environment or
between team members.
This misalignment were often difficult to notice and talk about.
So next we'll look at different strategies for
surfacing these issues that you can fix them.
Derek Newberry, Ph.D.Lecturer
Dr. Aviva LegattAffiliated Faculty
