At almost every organization we visit, there is a "rivalry" that everyone jokes about but no one fixes. Sales vs. Operations. Engineering vs. Product. Marketing vs. Sales.
We call them silos. But they feel more like battle lines.
Your team is working hard. Their team is working hard. But because you are measuring success differently—and because you rarely talk about the impact you have on each other—you end up working at cross-purposes.
You optimize your own workflow, inadvertently throwing a wrench into theirs.
The result? Missed handoffs, duplicated work, and a whole lot of "It’s not my job."
You don’t need a restructure or a team-building retreat to fix this. You need to change the lens through which your team views their colleagues. You need the Help Another Team tool.
This is a tactical exercise designed to shift your team’s mindset from "How do we win?" to "How do we help the whole organization win?".
It forces your team to stop looking at their own KPIs for a moment and look at the reality of the people downstream from them.
Gather your team for a 30-minute session. Pick one specific team you work with often (or struggle with). Then, work through these three questions.
First, step into their shoes. Ask your team: What are this other team's objectives? What are their biggest headaches and challenges right now?.
Stop guessing. If you don't know what keeps the VP of that department up at night, you can’t possibly be a good partner to them.
This is the uncomfortable part. Ask: What problems do WE create for them?.
Do we hand off data in a format they can’t use?
Do we bring them into projects too late?
Do we promise customers things that they have to scramble to deliver?
This requires an outward mindset. You have to admit that your "efficient process" might be their "operational nightmare."
Now, get practical. What specific things can we do to help them?. This isn’t about doing their job for them. It’s about adjusting your work to make their work easier. It could be as simple as changing a deadline or cc'ing them on a weekly update.
Once you have your list of actions, schedule the check-in.
The Power Move: Schedule a meeting with that team. Show them your list. Say, "We’ve been thinking about how we make your lives harder, and we came up with these ideas to fix it. Did we get it right?"
When teams stop competing and start collaborating, operational friction disappears. Decisions happen faster. Mistakes get caught earlier.
But more importantly, you stop wasting energy on internal politics and focus that energy where it belongs: on the customer.
Stop building walls. Start building bridges.
Q: Why should we help them if they never help us?
A: That’s the inward mindset talking. Waiting for the other person to change first is a recipe for stagnation. Someone has to be the leader. If you start helpfulness, you create a debt of reciprocity. They will eventually ask, "Wow, thanks—what can we do for you?"
Q: What if we guess wrong about their challenges?
A: That’s why the meeting to share step is so powerful. If you go to them and say, "We think this is your biggest challenge," and they say, "Actually, it's this other thing," you have just gained valuable intelligence. Being wrong is fine; not caring is the problem.
Q: Can we do this for multiple teams at once?
A: Focus is better. Pick the one team where the friction is costing the business the most money. Fix that dynamic first. Then move to the next.