Basketball is a team sport. Fast-paced, dynamic and assist-dependent, the game is a five-on-five display of collaboration and athletic skill. But individual accolades often represent a more pressing need for players and their legacy: bigger contracts, elevated fame and their names carved into cultural history — His Airness, Black Mamba, The King.
Beyond the X’s and O’s on the court, the NBA’s 30 coaches have the unwritten job of establishing a winning culture, and must mold clashing egos and flashy plays into a five-man unit that acts as one. With a grueling, eight-month long season, only by aligning player and team goals can one ambitious team attain that most coveted grail — the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
For tech companies, managing engineering talent reflects the same philosophy. On paper, team culture and collaboration are core values for most workplaces, but assuming everyone is on the same page by default can lead to misalignment of personal objectives and team goals. The needs of a business is the driving force behind team synergy, but a commitment to the members’ professional growth can go a long way in keeping them engaged and motivated.
“When individuals recognize how their role contributes to their charter team’s goals, and therefore the company’s overall goals, a sense of belonging follows,” said Rusie McGillan, Volta Charging’s senior manager of QA engineering.
Engineering teams are hardly monolithic, even if they focus on a single product or feature. They comprise individuals with distinct interests, ambitions and milestones that propel their work ethic and productivity, and it’s up to their manager to guide the direct report’s growth while never losing sight of the company’s vision.
A shared purpose is necessary for a cohesive team to function, but not at the expense of personal fulfillment, which can often lead to burnout. To get a closer look at how engineering managers rally their teams, Built In SF sat down with two companies whose leadership has established a culture of constant feedback and alignment.
Aurora Solar makes software for the solar industry. Through data, automation and AI, the company powers solar projects and streamlines the process for installers, offering a new experience in design, sales and delivery. The clean energy sector is a relatively new one, and requires working on the cutting edge in many aspects. That’s why Senior Engineering Manager Greg Eisenberg finds value in managers that ensure alignment between individual and company goals. “It is simply better for both the employees and the company when the relationship feels like — and is — a win-win,” he said.
In your experience, what are the best ways to create and maintain alignment between an individuals’ goals, hopes or expectations and the broader goals of the company?
To help align individual goals with company goals, we need to gather the data, consider options, build a plan and review it periodically. This should start in one-on-ones, with every manager knowing what their employee’s goals are. We should also use tools like surveys and team-building exercises to learn more about what our employees are interested in, what their goals are and identify strengths and weaknesses.
As a manager, I take notes about each person and reflect on that information to identify skills and experiences that person may want to acquire. This becomes fodder for discussion in our one-on-one meetings. I also consider this when identifying who will helm a user story, epic or larger initiatives. Ideally, I can align task assignments to individual strengths and goals. Beyond task assignment, there are often other opportunities that provide individuals with opportunities. For example, an employee who has entrepreneurial aspirations can be given opportunities to demo or present proposals to stakeholders. Lastly, feedback can be aligned by focusing on areas that are valuable to the employee’s goals.
How can managers get more proactive about ensuring misalignment between individual and company goals doesn’t develop?
There are two core techniques: open dialogue and monitoring happiness. One-on-ones are a way to achieve that for individuals, but there are other tools too. For example, team retrospectives allow managers to monitor happiness qualitatively. Retrospectives often surface misalignments and unhappiness, and on teams with good open dialogue, this may allow the issues to be named and discussed. Team surveys or health checks can surface unhappiness and misalignment quantitatively.
There are some great tools available online, but it’s also easy to create your own survey using a Likert scale and asking how strongly someone agrees with or disagrees with statements like “You have opportunities here which align with your goals.” At Aurora Solar, we conduct quarterly team health checks, and there are company-wide employee satisfaction surveys too. We openly discuss this with our teams and the organizational leadership.
Why is it important to ensure individual and company goals remain aligned?
When individual and company goals align, it is much easier to do work that is fulfilling and satisfying. The employee is compensated well and gets a chance to build their skills, knowledge and experience by doing exactly what the company needs.
Company Values That Support Alignment
- Outcome over ego: When our goals align, it’s much easier to focus on that common goal instead of just individual objectives.
- We’re in this together: We will only achieve our dreams and goals by working together, and when those goals are aligned, it takes much less effort.
Volta Charging is a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations. The company’s business model offers drivers new avenues of charging on the road, while giving sponsors a platform to advertise wherever Volta stations are located. Building out EV infrastructure is an ambitious company goal, so it’s important for workers to have individual objectives aligned with the bigger picture. “Knowing how one’s efforts contribute to the success of the company strategy prevents disengagement from developing,” said Rusie McGillan, Volta’s senior manager of QA engineering.
In your experience, what are the best ways to create and maintain alignment between an individuals’ goals, hopes or expectations and the broader goals of the company?
Communicating that the team’s goals are overall company strategies broken down into manageable chunks with program milestones helps the team feel integral to the company. When individuals recognize how their role contributes to their charter team’s goals, and therefore the company’s overall goals, a sense of belonging follows.
For example, if I’m in charge of a station user experience feature that’s launched in a beta program, then thousands of other stations will roll it out as well. I can take ownership in increasing the company’s profit margins by a certain percentage goal, attracting N-number of customers to Volta and increasing existing customer base loyalty.
At the same time, it is vital that each person’s projects and tasks are prioritized in accordance with the team’s goals. Once there is an understanding of the team’s deliverables and their ordering, employees should be trusted to pick the one to propel the team forward when done first. Providing a focused environment with autonomy is key to our engineering team’s success.
How can managers get more proactive about ensuring misalignment between individual and company goals doesn’t develop?
Goal alignment starts with leadership. Crystal-clear objectives set by leadership help the company have a complete understanding of the vision and strategy to achieve them. Now, a shared purpose is created that everyone can rally behind. Once the organizational goals are set, we can then set individual goals that align with the overall picture. These goals must be objective and measurable, contribute to the individual’s team deliverables and ideally meet their desire to develop. It is also productive if managers set quarterly checkpoints with employees to track progress and course-correct if needed. Setting up a good support system for employees helps them achieve their goals.
Volta’s Support System
- Robust onboarding to company values, vision and strategy
- Ongoing access to training to enhance employee learning and development
- Resources and tools for employees to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively
- Regular feedback through one-on-ones and coaching sessions to improve performance
Why is it important to ensure individual and company goals remain aligned?
Highly aligned companies have increased productivity, trust in leadership decisions, a positive culture, reduced turnover and a healthy work environment through enhanced collaboration within and across teams to achieve a common goal.
