US and THEM

In any human organisation, natural subgroups emerge from shared interests, backgrounds and experiences. While we might expect some clustering, problems arise when – as is common in tech organisations – an “us vs them” mentality takes hold between ingroups and outgroups.

Some common divides in tech companies include:

Ingroups

• Engineers
• Product Managers
• Executives
• Long-Serving Employees

Outgroups

• Non-Technical Roles
• Contractors/Consultants
• Recent Hires
• Remote Employees

Impacts

Divides often lead to biased decisions, limited information sharing, poor collaboration, feelings of disrespect, high turnover, groupthink and tokenism. Organisations fragmented by subgroups usually suffer as a result.

We’re All In This Together?

Rather than expecting executives and HR to fix these issues, employees at all levels have significant power to act.

Actions for Individual Contributors

• Look into the basic phenomenon of ingroups and outgroups
• Build relationships beyond your immediate team
• Model inclusive language and behaviour
• Call out subtle exclusion when you see it
• Learn more about internal groups you don’t interact with often

Tactics for Teams

• Set expectations for mutual understanding between groups (charters can help)
• Invite rotation of cross-functional team staffing
• Discuss observations about silo behaviour in retrospectives
• Provide onboarding mentorships to new hires across the company
• Avoid protecting the team (instead, seek mutual dialogues and benefits)

Folks who own the way the work works also play a crucial role too by implementing structural changes to connectivity. But culture shifts come largely from how rank-and-file employees relate, day-to-day. Each person can choose to reflect upon their language, decisions and behaviours that might be isolating colleagues and subgroups, and solidifying ingroup and outgroup divisions.

The end goal is a culture where people bring their whole, authentic selves to work (often risky), uniqueness stands out more than fitting in, and outsiders get welcomed rather than excluded.

What tactics have you found most effective for strengthening connections between workgroups? What benefits have you seen? Let’s exchange ideas in the comments!