“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
This quote from Simon Sinek’s popular book on leadership and inspiration, Start with WHY, encapsulates the core of organizational leadership. To align every employee, from individual contributors to C-suite executives, the business must have a purpose, mission or goal — i.e. the answer to “why” — providing the direction teams aim for together.
In the years following the Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. professionals have become increasingly conscious of how personally connected they feel to their work. According to research from McKinsey & Company, nearly two-thirds of U.S. employees noted that Covid-19 caused them to reflect on their purpose in life, and half of those respondents mentioned that they were reconsidering the kind of work they do in the years since.
Additionally, engineering teams working on highly iterative projects are sometimes at risk of losing sight of long-term product goals in the minutiae of tickets and new priorities. The challenge for engineering leaders is to keep the “why” behind the work topical, helping their teammates understand the impact behind their work and how it adds up to the overall mission of the company.
Built In spoke with five engineering leaders to learn more about the methods they rely on to connect team goals to company goals, and how they keep teams motivated to reach them.
CSC is a multifaceted company that provides legal, financial and digital brand services to businesses around the world.
What practices do you employ to balance team goals with company goals?
I start with the premise that team goals must support the company’s goals. Around the world, our teams of experts help clients successfully navigate the complexities of business. We focus relentlessly on delivering excellent service and innovative solutions. We are the business behind business—treating our clients’ needs as if they were our own.
The process we generally follow starts when our executive technology leaders create organizational-level objectives mapped to the company’s goals. My team then maps our goals to technology, using a run, grow and transform professional development framework. I review road maps with the chief information security officer and technology and business executive stakeholders to gain feedback and ensure alignment. Individual team members, in coordination with their leader, draft success criteria mapped to team goals. This helps close the loop of company objectives linked to specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound individual outcomes.
We get wins for the team member, company and team with this model. For example, an Asia Pacific team member completes application-specific training to meet a business follow-the-sun outcome. The teammate wins by meeting one of their success criteria and enhancing their skill set. The new skill directly supports technology’s goal of service maturation and the business-specific goal for the product, all of which map back to CSC’s promise.
How do you cultivate a culture that motivates team members to accomplish goals for the team and CSC?
I work on fostering awareness and buy-in of the company, organizational and team objectives and a culture that delegates autonomy to team members to empower their and our success and growth.
It starts with being clear on the company’s and technology’s goals and how the team’s goals support the overall mission. We benefit from executive-led town halls that promote the former and hold team all-hands meetings to review and discuss the latter.
“It starts with being clear on the company’s and technology’s goals and how the team’s goals support the overall mission.”
Our team promotes a bias for action that I believe enhances morale and motivation by asking “why” questions to avoid complacency and encourage initiative. Leaders work hard to create a culture where team members are empowered and comfortable to challenge the status quo by asking questions like, “I think there’s a better way — what if we try this approach?”
As leaders, we must listen, develop options, advocate and be prepared to adjust when needed. I focus on active listening and mentorship to guide each team member to find their “why” and capitalize on their strengths.
Why is it important to balance team and company goals?
Ultimately, as a team, the work we do has to align with CSC’s purpose, values and promise, or we do a disservice to our clients and colleagues. How do we maintain the balance?
One thing I enjoy about CSC is the cross-team and cross-organization collaboration and initiative. We want to be the best as a company and mutually support one another. It takes that willingness and coordination up, down and across the organization to scan the horizon and address upcoming opportunities or challenges so that our products continue to be client-driven, secure, and exceed our competition, all under the CSC Promise.
NinjaOne offers an IT productivity platform that simplifies and automates the hardest parts of IT operations.
What practices do you employ to balance team goals with company goals?
Balancing team goals with company goals can sometimes be at odds with each other. However, one practice we employ to maintain that balance is constant and iterative development. We work closely with the product team to determine feature sets, and iterating on them allows us to get customer feedback sooner and pivot based on that feedback.
The iterative process also allows us to test our assumptions and work towards the solution that actually solves customer pains rather than a solution we think solves their pain. At a team level, the process helps identify areas that we can change to improve our quality and speed, which in turn improves the quality and speed of subsequent iterations, resulting in a better, more robust overall product.
How do you cultivate a culture that motivates team members to accomplish goals for both the team and NinjaOne?
Asking and answering the “why.” Once you understand what affects the customers and why what we do allows them to do more and better things, it puts the team’s work into perspective. Answering the “why” also reinforces the idea that we may be grouped at a team level, but NinjaOne is the one team we all belong to, and at the end of the day, we are all responsible for the product we put out into the world — and everyone here takes pride in their work.
Why is it important to balance team and company goals?
Not maintaining a balance between team and organizational goals will lead to the eventual failure of both. If we are strictly focused on organizational goals, the entire focus would land on delivering features as fast as possible, which would lead to an unmaintainable and non-scalable product. However, if we focus on team goals, the dedication to quality would mean that no functionality is ever shipped because it is not ready. When both organization and team goals are aligned, we find the right balance between quality and speed to improve both, but not sacrifice one over the other.
“When both organization and team goals are aligned, we find the right balance between quality and speed to improve both, but not sacrifice one over the other.”
Iodine Software is a patient documentation company powered by AI, featuring a clinical machine learning engine, “Cognitive ML.”
What practices do you employ to balance team goals with company goals?
I regularly communicate company goals and priorities to my teams. By understanding the “why” behind the company’s goals, we better align our work to our objectives. I also involve team members in the goal-setting process. This ensures that the individual and team goals are in sync with the company’s vision while also allowing individuals to take ownership of the tasks. We check our goal execution every week and constantly get feedback, making necessary adjustments and celebrating small wins along the way.
“By understanding the ‘why’ behind the company’s goals, we better align our work to our objectives.”
How do you cultivate a culture that motivates team members to accomplish goals for the team and Iodine Software?
I empower my team by giving them ownership of their work and encouraging autonomy. Each engineer acts as a “dev-lead” for their product initiative Epic ticket, driving every aspect from architecture and design to implementation, testing and release. This responsibility fosters a sense of ownership and accountability and ensures their work is closely aligned with team and company goals.
I also involve the teams in strategic decisions whenever possible, ensuring that we build consensus throughout the process. And I make it a priority to explain the rationale behind every decision I make. This transparency helps team members understand the bigger picture, fosters trust and strengthens their commitments to team and company goals.
Why is it important to balance team and company goals?
If team members don’t see how their work aligns with the company’s mission, they may become disengaged and unmotivated. This can lead to lower job satisfaction and higher turnover rates. When teams operate independently of the company’s goals, there is a risk of missing key strategic objectives. This misalignment can jeopardize the company’s long-term success, which in turn, negatively impacts everybody within the organization.
Jellyfish offers an engineering management platform that enables engineering leaders to align engineering work with strategic business objectives.
What practices do you employ to balance team goals with company goals?
Maybe the obvious thing here is that we try to frame our teams as missions that add up to the company goal, so we need to understand where the business wants to be and how we think we can get there. From there, it’s easier to charter an individual team around a mission area, problem space or technical goal that we believe will contribute to that larger shared goal. If your company’s goal this year is to be the leading supplier of Spider-Man cosplay gear in North America, it makes more sense for your team to be producing masks and web shooters than, say, lightsabers.
For technical work, the practice here might be to look at the scale and complexity of the mission and build towards that, rather than an abstract “make a beautiful system that can handle 100 times the output” when your business goals might be only two times times the output over the next two years, which can lead to a lot of waste and overbuilding. Do you really need that fifth web shooter factory?
We also think about operational goals at the team level. How well do these teams run? Are there things we’re measuring that we’d like to see improved? Could we deliver more value if we changed the way we operate as a team?
How do you cultivate a culture that motivates team members to accomplish goals for the team and Jellyfish?
A goal-oriented team culture will always outperform a competitive, individualistic or disengaged one, in my experience. But we can’t have that culture without a clear goal and a sense of shared mission. Why are we building this? Who is it for? Does anybody care? If you don’t have a clear story about the “why” behind the work, you’ll end up with folks just punching through lists of tasks, seeking resume-building side projects whether or not they contribute to the primary priorities of the team, or team members not making their best contributions. You’ve got smart people — don’t ask them to stop thinking!
“We can’t have a goal-oriented team culture without a clear goal and a sense of shared mission.”
One of the most effective ways to reinforce that sense of team is through feedback and gratitude. You’ll get more of what you reward, of course, so pay attention and call it out! “Hey, the customers love the new pink rhinestone web shooters! They helped us sell 10 percent more costumes this month!” “Thanks for helping your teammate finish their hard project on time, rather than starting up the next piece of work — that helped us deliver something this week.”
An easy way to kick off these types of conversations can be to ask the team: How do we know if we’re winning?
Why is it important to balance team and company goals?
Sometimes a team will need to develop their own technical investment goals that are less visible or obviously critical to the broader business — whether that’s a refactoring project, investment in a new technology for future innovation or an internal tooling change. These are important and need to have their opportunity costs weighed carefully. It’s not uncommon to see a very reasonable, technically excellent proposal for a solution that doesn’t lead with a strong sense of a problem to solve or an outcome to achieve. If we don’t routinely ask “why is this the most important thing we can do now?” we may end up with some great systems that don’t move a customer outcome.
On the other hand, if we don’t balance this by carving out time for these types of less-glamorous improvements, we can find ourselves becoming less efficient over time. Poor testing practices, slow internal tooling and disorganized technology can reduce our ability to ship great stuff, so the answer can’t simply be “only ship exciting features” for too long. Sometimes we need to clear the cobwebs from our factory to do our best work.
Empower is a financial services company that helps people access and build their credit.
What practices do you employ to balance team goals with company goals?
Our team’s goals are closely aligned with the company’s overall objectives. At the team and company level, we’re constantly asking ourselves, “How can we deliver the most value to our customers in the most efficient way possible?” This guiding principle shapes how we work. We embrace an ownership mindset, move with urgency and focus on making a real impact.
We also tackle our work with a problem-first mentality. This is like a built-in gut check, ensuring we address real customer needs and deliver solutions quickly. And we’re always ready to adjust our course based on new learnings we gain along the way. This approach keeps us agile, customer-focused and aligned with the company’s mission.
“We tackle our work with a problem-first mentality. And we’re always ready to adjust our course based on new learnings we gain along the way.”
How do you cultivate a culture that motivates your team members to accomplish goals for the team and Empower?
Our team culture is rooted in recognizing and leveraging individual strengths. As a manager, I believe in highlighting what people do well rather than focusing on weaknesses. We work better together when we can play to people’s talents while providing opportunities for growth in areas that need improvement.
We foster an environment where healthy debate is encouraged. It’s crucial that our engineers feel invested in their work and have the autonomy to pursue the best solutions. We’re not chasing perfection here — our expectations are more like a sliding scale, tailored to each team member. We also make it a point to celebrate our wins, big and small. We strive to find a balance where people feel valued for their contributions while feeling the drive to grow and evolve.
Why is it important to balance team and company goals?
If we were to lose this alignment, we could lose a lot of our hard-fought efficiencies, both in terms of our team dynamic and how we contribute to the company’s broader mission. I think about these core efficiencies in terms of productivity, motivation and competitive advantage.
Without goal alignment, we might find ourselves working hard on things that don’t move the needle for the business. Without understanding how our work is laddering up to larger objectives, the team may feel unfocused or undervalued. Additionally, fintech moves quickly, and we want to remain responsive and competitive in our industry. Ultimately, a loss in alignment means not serving our customers as well as we can, which is a big deal because customer experience remains at the heart of what we do.
