Acting on Awkwardness: Small Shifts, Big Impact
This is the fourth post in my "From awkward to aligned" series.
So you have managed to find a recurring awkward interaction. You’ve traced it back to an interaction signal that’s worth paying attention to. So what now?
You don’t need to start with a reorg. In fact, many of the most effective changes begin not with a restructure, but with a small shift—something safe to try, observable, and grounded in a real need.
This post offers practical ways to experiment with structure, roles, and responsibilities in response to specific types of awkwardness, without triggering unnecessary disruption.
Practical Moves for Common Patterns
The examples below are not recipes. Think of them as starting points, small interventions that can help you ease friction, test your assumptions, and gather feedback.
Interaction Pattern: Endless Handoffs
“We always have to pass work between teams to get anything done.”
This typically indicates fractured ownership or misaligned team boundaries, often across a workflow that would benefit from more cohesive responsibility.
You might try:
Shaping a team to own the full flow from request to outcome for a specific feature or need.
Spinning up a temporary cross-functional team to explore fit across a vertical slice.
Clarifying what should sit within each team boundary and adjusting to reduce unnecessary coordination.
Interaction Pattern: Sync Overload
“We need four teams in every planning meeting.”
This is often a sign that decision-making is distributed across too many groups or that no single team has enough clarity or autonomy to move forward.
You might try:
Tightening decision-making authority and reducing the number of voices required for progress.
Strengthening the team’s ownership of their domain so that external inputs become optional, not required.
Reframing the interaction mode from continuous collaboration to well-defined self-service consumption.
Interaction Pattern: Painful Collaboration
“We’re supposed to work together, but it’s exhausting.”
Collaboration isn’t always the right mode. If it’s draining more than it’s delivering, it may be that expectations are mismatched or that the wrong interaction pattern is in play.
You might try:
Revisiting the purpose of the collaboration: What outcome are both teams trying to achieve?
Shifting the relationship to support or enablement, with clearer responsibilities on both sides.
Assigning a temporary liaison to unblock coordination while you evaluate longer-term options.
Interaction Pattern: Workarounds and Shadow Services
“We just built our own version, it was easier than waiting.”
This isn’t just a speed problem. It’s a trust and service quality problem. It’s telling you that teams don’t believe the current setup will deliver what they need, when they need it.
You might try:
Surfacing the workaround in a non-blaming way and making space to understand the drivers.
Engaging both sides to explore whether the original service still fits the need or if expectations have shifted.
Using the friction as a prompt to re-contract or evolve the service interface.
Interaction Pattern: No Clear Ownership
“Everyone assumes someone else owns it, so nothing moves.”
When work falls between the cracks, it’s usually because the capability hasn’t been clearly assigned or has outgrown its previous home.
You might try:
Naming the gap openly and inviting feedback on its impact.
Assigning temporary ownership with a timebox and a check-in to assess fit.
Asking whether this gap represents a one-off exception or the start of something that needs to become a standalone service or team.
Make It Safe to Try
Structural experiments don’t need to be high-stakes. Keep them lightweight, low-risk, and timeboxed:
Start with a narrow scope (a single flow, team, or handoff)
Make the intended outcome clear (e.g. faster decisions, clearer ownership)
Set a short review window (2–4 weeks is usually enough to see early signs)
Share what you learn, even if the experiment “fails”
This fosters a culture where team dynamics and interactions are something we deliberately shape, not something that happens to us.
Notice, Nudge, Reflect
You don’t need a big program to start improving the way teams work together. You just need to notice where things feel awkward, take a thoughtful step forward, and reflect on the impact.
Sometimes a nudge is all it takes to unlock a better interaction pattern.
And when it’s not, you’ve learned something useful and you’ve created momentum for deeper change.
Next up: From Awkward to Advantage
In the final post, I’ll explore how to turn these small interventions into a habit by embedding reflection and responsiveness into your team culture so structural evolution becomes just part of how you work.
