Navigate the Swirl

CHAPTER 17Conversation 5: Streamlining Interdependencies

What other teams do we need to align with?

Are the points of interdependence within and across teams explicit?

Are shared processes and handoffs efficient?

Do rewards and incentives support working as a team?

HPTs are not freestanding. They exist in a matrix, a larger social system, and inevitably they must optimize the business processes that are cross-functional, and pay attention to how they interact with multiple functional and business teams. In this conversation, we're still in the domain of Capabilities and Roles, but now we're seeking to manage the key intersection points where roles bump up against each other, inside or outside the team. We're seeking to understand how all the elements fit together, especially our team. Indeed, visualizing the Enterprise Map is a key way of working in this conversation that allows team members to see exactly how they fit within the whole organization. Any one team's ability to be high performing often depends on strategically aligning with other teams in the enterprise. When an HPT finds that it needs to advocate for its priorities up and down the enterprise hierarchy, a robust understanding of the connections and interdependencies across the organization will inform those conversations.

Analyzing the Performance System

HPTs need protocols and processes to begin to track their performance. Are there going to be reviews? What incentives will be put in place? What KPIs ...