There are myriad details that may create white noise for product teams and hold them back from doing more. Shielding teams from that noise to let them have their focus generally appears to be a good idea. Yet, that may not be the case. You aspire to be good at picking what goes through and what does not, because you might be left with mission-detached teams working on low-impact tasks if you insulate them too well.

Insulation from disturbances may turn into isolation easily, which may lead product teams to disconnect from the realities of business. When it happens, your solution suite eventually starts losing its edges and showing signs of decaying into the ordinary as teams can not keep up with the competition. Shared consciousness between teams allows acting as one and creating something cohesive, so once connections get clogged, teams turn their operator mode on, failing to keep the same level of consciousness which brought them success in the first place. Caring for financials, for example, does not generally fall into a product team’s scope, and most leadership teams do their best to find enough fuel to let teams work. However, being unwatchful of “what makes it a good business” or the things that affect overall performance may be a fatal mistake for teams. As a team leader, if you batten down the hatches and keep your teams in the dark, even with good intentions, the focus they gain probably will be marginal to the loss of consciousness around business.

To adjust teams’ course and backlog, leaders and teams should always be mindful of their company’s ultimate value propositions and the underpinnings of the products of their creation. Imagine that a company provides trading experience via mobile apps, then having liquid markets, a robust platform, and a working matching engine between users are the primary tenets of the services provided. As a north star, everyone at a company, not only product teams but everyone irrespective of their functions and roles, should give attention to these components to never lose touch with reality. Without embracing the core user needs and how they’ve been solved, anyone may lose track and end up squandering resources on less impactful tasks.

The isolation problem is exacerbated in companies large enough where the “It’s not my responsibility” way of thinking is prevalent due to housing individuals whose connection is severely damaged, and turning them into operators who are mostly doing what they’re asked to do only. In a big enough company, where resources are abundant in reality or seemingly, poor team and stakeholder management entail the uneven distribution of impactful projects, leaving some teams constantly dealing with less important tasks. On top of that, a mediocre management layer fails at being the bridge between the company’s direction and teams, resulting in more isolation. This vicious cycle worsens as individuals realize their work is less meaningful compared to that of their colleagues, and begin to entrench themselves in their comfort zones without showing greater interest in the company’s success.

The remedy is contingent on the notion of ownership, which manifests when individuals speak up about issues outside their immediate expertise. Ideally, in a good product team, designers feel themselves responsible for other parts of SDLC or frontend developers show interest in the product’s engagement performance to question why some bits are not working as expected. A team is destined to achieve something outstanding when its members feel themselves fully responsible for their craft, from usability to its financial performance.

This sense of ownership, starting from the individual level, can well be cultivated. A strong mission, sensible, and slightly attainable mission paves the way for teams to something to strive for. A purposeful talent department casts a net to pick individuals with a high level of curiosity who align with company values. A non-siloed organisational structure facilitates shared consciousness by preventing communication barriers. And a shrewd leadership layer keeps their teams in the loop continually to keep their head in the game, constantly reminding them where the company is headed.

The more connections that are made between company direction and teams, the more mission-related discretion teams will show when making decisions on what to do. Having your teams connected to the hive while deflecting asteroids of disturbances before they enter the atmosphere of your teams is a balancing act. When you start hearing a finance-related question from a designer or a compliance question from an engineer, you can think yourself lucky as you’re probably working with a high-performing team whose interest is not in parts, but in the whole.