My favorite team alignment workshop, ever
How to get your team focused & stop flailing
Random thing #1:
I spent the week in Guadalajara, Mexico for MuukTest’s company offsite. I ate cow tongue tacos, tripe tacos, and worm salt… and those are just the things I was able to understand. The trip was a good reminder that even with a fully remote workforce, getting together 1x or 2x per year in person unlocks a lot. Unpredictable what you’ll get out of it, but always massively valuable.
Random thing #2:
Product-Market Fit Camp 2 starts Monday - say a little prayer for me. Also, would love your feedback on the new website copy!
Main thing:
You always have that feeling as a founder: What the fuck is my team doing? Why does everyone seem so busy, yet we don’t seem to be taking off?
If you’ve worked in consulting, at a F500, or gone to business school, this stupid, awful word comes to mind: “Alignment.”
“I’m worried we’re not aligned as a team, focused on the most important things, etc. etc. etc.”
And if you’re like me, you have this kind of 4am freakout every few weeks/months. Do I need to set better goals? Micromanage harder? Get better reporting? Why am I so useless?
But I just did an exercise with Muuk at their offsite that, I THINK, is the antidote to this kind of problem… it was really fun, took less than an hour, and required ~7 mins of preparation. (Don’t tell Ivan, Muuk’s CEO, that last part.)
We did a special kind of “Jobs to be Done” workshop - “Why are customers buying our product, and what does that mean for what actually matters for us to focus on?”
Sounds like your typical corporate BS workshop, I know. What actually made it useful was:
We first focused on a RIDICULOUS (not “real”) Jobs to be Done — and did the thought exercise: What would be different about our business if THIS was what our customers wanted?
We then compared TWO RIDICULOUS Jobs to be Done — and asked what we would / wouldn’t do in each situation, comparing & contrasting what mattered & what didn’t.
This helped the team understand that “why & what the customers buy” is upstream of everything… and determines what matters & doesn’t in their jobs.
When we focused on the ACTUAL jobs to be done, the team was able to think critically about what they should / shouldn’t focus on, which goals are relevant, and what the product/service should deliver that will get customers to “hell yes.”
Here are two slides I used (again, nothing crazy):
Try it with your team!
Love,
Rob