Why Scaling Teams Spikes Human Latency (And How to Fix It)

Introduction and Overview of Scaling Team Challenges

• The topic of discussion is scaling teams and how it can lead to increased human latency, with the speaker introducing themselves as Charlotte, co-founder of Bravely Amsterdam, a learning partner that works with tech companies on leadership development, culture, and feedback 10s.
• Clients have reported that as their teams grew, decisions took longer to make, and conflicts arose, with one client stating that after adding teams across time zones, decisions took 10 times longer, and another client noting that after scaling from 10 to 100 engineers, people stopped working together 4m6s.
• A case study of Linux is mentioned, which grew from 12 employees to 500, and the challenges they faced during this growth period are discussed, including increased complexity and decreased cooperation among team members 6m6s.
• The speaker notes that when teams scale, coordination becomes tougher, and things can break down, leading to unclear roles, overlapping responsibilities, and slower decision-making, and that it's essential to address these issues before they become major problems 10m6s.

Communication and Coordination Challenges in Scaling Teams

• The speaker also mentions that they often get requests from companies with around 100-150 people, as this is when employee satisfaction surveys start to show signs of burnout and decreased satisfaction, and that it's easier to fix these issues before they become major problems 14m6s.
• When teams scale, they often experience communication in silos, leading to double work, unnecessary work, and frustration between teams, as well as a need for more flexibility in leadership style, which can be influenced by cultural and location factors 10s.
• Scaling teams can result in challenges such as communication overload, loss of shared context, and trust problems, with communication becoming increasingly difficult as the team size grows, as illustrated by Dunbar's number, which suggests that neurotypical people can sustain around 150 social relationships 2m6s.
• As teams grow, they may experience a loss of shared context, leading to problems such as duplicated work, wasted time, and frustration, as well as the use of different systems and solutions for the same problems, highlighting the importance of maintaining connections between teams 4m30s.

Human Cognitive Limits and the Role of Trust in Scaling Teams

• Humans have cognitive limits that cannot be scaled in the same way as technical systems, and while AI can help, it is essential to consider these limitations when scaling teams, particularly in terms of communication and trust 6m20s.
• Trust does not replicate automatically when new teams are built, and it must be grown and built over time, with psychological safety being a crucial aspect of team dynamics, as seen in the example of Spotify's squads, which experienced reduced psychological safety and trust issues as the company scaled 8m40s.
• The example of Spotify's squads highlights the importance of trust and psychological safety in team dynamics, demonstrating that even autonomous teams can experience trust issues and that trust cannot be replicated or copied, but rather must be developed and nurtured 10m50s.
• Trust is the foundation of a team's success, allowing members to believe in each other's integrity and reliability, even in difficult times, and enabling open and honest feedback and communication 10s.

Psychological Safety and Its Relationship to Trust

• Psychological safety is closely related to trust, but distinct, as it refers to the ability to take risks within a group without fear of exclusion, and is characterized by a growth mindset that fosters creativity, output, and autonomy 42s.
• Teams with high trust may not necessarily have high psychological safety, often due to processes or work environments that discourage risk-taking and mistake-making 1m6s.
• When teams are reorganized or scaled quickly, trust and psychological safety can be disrupted, requiring time and effort to rebuild, as seen in Google's project Aristotle, where reorganized teams experienced decreased trust and required rebuilding 2m6s.

Human Latency and Its Impact on Team Performance

• Scaling teams at a high speed without investing in the social system can lead to communication overload, loss of shared context, and decreased trust, resulting in human latency, which is the time it takes to move from a problem to a solution 3m30s.
• Human latency can be measured and monitored using a dashboard, which can help teams track their progress and identify areas for improvement, such as the time it takes to complete tasks or the rate of errors and miscommunication 5m30s.
• The consequences of increased human latency can be significant, including decreased efficiency, increased costs, and frustration, as seen in the example of a client who experienced a five-fold increase in latency when scaling their teams 6m40s.
• When teams scale, the concept of "done" can become unclear, leading to decreased efficiency and engagement, as people may become cynical, zone out, and complain a lot, which can be harder to measure 10s.

Cultural Differences and Their Impact on Team Scaling

• As teams grow, especially internationally, cultural differences can lead to "cultural drift," where the company's identity and values may become diluted, and different cultures may have varying definitions of concepts like "moving fast" 2m6s.
• The development of trust within a team is crucial, and when team members feel safe, they can directly address issues and work together to solve problems without taking it personally, as seen in an example where a team member pointed out a bug introduced by another person 5m42s.
• The assumption of what "done" means can vary greatly between individuals and cultures, and understanding these differences is essential for effective teamwork, as highlighted in the book "Culture Map" 8m40s.

Strategies for Behavioral Scalability and Team Development

• To address the issues that arise from scaling teams, it is necessary to create "behavioral scalability" by introducing new skills and investing time and effort, rather than relying on a "magic trick" or quick fix 11m20s.
• The importance of understanding human experience and cultural differences is crucial in creating a scalable team, and it requires ongoing investment and effort to develop the necessary skills and behaviors 12m10s.
• To effectively scale teams and reduce human latency, it is essential to implement a communication architecture that involves repeating core messages, context, and goals through different mediums and at different times, as repetition is key to ensuring everyone is on the same page 2m6s.

Communication Architecture and Team Alignment

• Leaders and companies should keep reminding people of the bigger picture and the things they want them to remember or work towards, using multiple communication channels such as summaries, Slack, email, and all-hands meetings to fill in gaps and prevent people from getting lost 4m30s.
• Creating bridges between teams is crucial, and this can be achieved through offsite events, buddy programs, and other initiatives that encourage personal connections among team members, allowing them to know each other and work together more effectively 6m40s.
• Repeated narratives and aligned messages from senior leadership are also important, as they help to create trust and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals, and backup rituals like retrospectives can help teams learn from failures and improve 9m10s.

Building Trust and Psychological Safety Through Transparency

• Explaining the background and reason behind certain behaviors or initiatives can help to increase understanding and reduce frustration, and giving people ownership by asking for their input and solutions to problems can also be an effective way to reduce complaints and improve teamwork 12m20s.
• To establish trust and psychological safety within teams, it is essential to create an environment where individuals feel comfortable being honest and transparent, and are rewarded for doing so, without fear of blame or shame, allowing them to discuss issues and find solutions together 10s.
• Implementing a structure that encourages honesty and transparency, and framing post-mortems as opportunities for growth, helps to build trust, and leaders should walk the talk, be transparent in their decision-making, and take responsibility for their mistakes 42s.
• Being predictable in rituals and repetitions, such as regular meetings and feedback sessions, can help to calm the brain, connect team members, and increase trust, while also providing opportunities for feedback and growth 2m6s.

Leadership and Vulnerability in Building Trust

• Leaders should demonstrate vulnerability, admit when they are wrong, and show a willingness to learn from mistakes, in order to model the behavior they want to see in their team members, and they should also address conflicts and behaviors that are not okay 2m6s.
• Having open metrics and providing insight into how things are going can help to build trust and clarity, and slowing down to build systems and processes can ultimately help teams to move quicker and more autonomously in the long run 2m6s.
• Distributing cohesion across teams, by creating a strong sense of connection and shared purpose, can be achieved through activities such as offsites, virtual coffees, and storytelling, which help to bring teams closer together and build bridges between them 2m6s.
• Leadership plays a crucial role in establishing a reliable social system, where trust is present, and teams are coherent and able to make decisions quickly, and leaders should regularly check in with team members to understand their experiences and perspectives 2m6s.

Addressing Team Challenges and Underlying Drivers

• When addressing challenges within a team or across teams, it is essential to look beyond the symptoms, such as missed deadlines or lack of collaboration, and instead focus on the underlying drivers to find a solution, rather than just repeating the same fixes over and over 10s.
• Creating psychological safety and trust within a team is crucial, and this can be achieved by acknowledging that humans make mistakes and having a backup plan in place, which can be as simple as working together to fix a problem, to establish a sense of ritual and safety 2m6s.
• As a leader, it is important to prioritize facilitating teams to work effectively, rather than just focusing on the content, and to look at the human system to ensure that teams can do their best job, which involves creating an environment where trust and stability can thrive 4m42s.

Investing in Relationships and Team Resilience

• Investing in a "relationship bank account" by building personal connections with team members, such as discussing their backgrounds and interests, can help to establish trust and make teams more resilient, especially when teams need to form quickly for a specific purpose 8m10s.
• Teams can become more resilient by establishing rituals and predictability, which can help to maintain stability even when team dynamics change, such as when a team member leaves, and by intentionally building and rebuilding trust, individuals can become better at forming effective teams 6m30s.
• Accepting that disruptions to team stability will happen and being proactive in rebuilding trust can help teams to become more resilient, and leaders can play a key role in fostering this environment by prioritizing team development and relationships 5m40s.
• To build a strong team, it is essential to first invest in the relationship and create a positive "bank account" by doing things like giving feedback and building trust, which can later be deducted from when conflicts arise, allowing the team to feel connected and work together more effectively 10s.

Building and Maintaining Team Cohesion

• When building a new team, it is crucial to invest time in the relationship before diving into the content, and this can be achieved through techniques such as facilitating sessions where team members can get to know each other on a personal level, which helps build trust and doesn't require a lot of time 2m6s.
• To handle teams with different preferences, such as some people preferring to have their webcams on during virtual meetings while others experience Zoom fatigue, leaders should acknowledge both groups and create a safe space for discussion by saying things like "it's a bit challenging when half of us have cameras on and half don't" and letting the team come to a solution together 42s.
• In environments where psychological safety is compromised, such as during constant layoffs in the tech industry, leaders should make it a topic of conversation and provide a safe space for team members to discuss their fears and worries without judgment, allowing them to regulate themselves and function again 10s.

Psychological Safety in Challenging Environments

• Installing psychological safety in such environments requires leaders to have open and honest conversations with their team members, listening to their worries and concerns without trying to fix them, but rather providing a safe space for discussion and helping team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings 2m6s.
• When leadership is small, it is typically transparent about decision-making, but as the team scales, this transparency often decreases, becoming a common pattern 10s.

Transparency in Leadership and Its Challenges

• Despite knowing that transparency builds trust, leaders may not prioritize it, possibly due to fear of causing other issues or optimizing for something else, and it is essential to consider the audience and the information they need to feel comfortable with the decisions being made 42s.
• It is crucial to strike a balance between transparency and information overload, narrowing down the information to what is truly relevant for the team, and investing in transparency is worth it, as losing sight of it can lead to losing the people who are doing the work 2m6s.