In today’s competitive market, new products are crucial for the success of any organization. However, the challenges of delivering innovative, customer-centric solutions are immense, and the pressure is constant. While technical challenges are often highlighted, the biggest hurdles are frequently people-related.

A recent survey conducted by Versus Global across our global clients revealed that 70-90% of the most significant difficulties stem from a lack of alignment and ineffective collaboration among colleagues. These people-related barriers are the real obstacles to successful product development.

Before diving into the specific requirements for effectively leading a product development team, let’s first look at some of the most common issues that slow down an organization’s ability to bring new value to market:

1. Functional Silos Overriding Team Goals: Often, team members identify more strongly with their functional roles than with the overarching product or program team. This can lead to prioritizing departmental goals over those of the product, hindering progress.

2. Weak Alignment on Interpersonal Behaviors: Teams may align on objectives but fail to establish the non-negotiable interpersonal behaviors they expect from each other. Without this, trust between team members weakens as the project progresses.

3. Differing Interpretations of Data: Even when team members analyze the same data, their varied experiences, beliefs, and biases can lead to different interpretations. This misalignment creates barriers to collaboration and decision-making.

4. Unclear Decision-Making Authority: Teams often fail to clarify decision-making authority, which leads to slow, consensus-driven decision-making. This delays progress and adds months to the project timeline.

5. Lack of a Shared Definition of Collaboration: Without a clear understanding of what collaboration means, team interactions become inefficient, which can derail innovation.

To address these “people challenges” and speed up the product development process, consider these best practices:

1. Expand the Concept of “Team”
The greatest threat to delivering products on time and on budget is functional silos. When team members see themselves primarily as part of their own function (e.g., marketing or R&D), they’re less likely to collaborate efficiently. To overcome this, foster a mindset where all participants view themselves as part of the same team—united by the customer and the product’s success. Early and frequent cross-functional collaboration is essential to prevent teams from working in isolation and making decisions too late.

2. Align Hearts and Minds to Shared Priorities
It’s not enough to align your team intellectually to a plan; emotional commitment is key. Team members must feel personally invested in shared values like trust, transparency, and collaboration. These human imperatives should be as non-negotiable as business deliverables. When your team is aligned both intellectually and emotionally, collaboration becomes more seamless and effective.

3. Create a Shared Reality
For teams to work together efficiently, they must have a unified understanding of key aspects of the project. New product development often involves creating new knowledge, so full information flow and transparency are essential. Ensure that team members share a common experience in interpreting data and have access to all necessary information, so that everyone operates with the same understanding of what’s true.

4. Clarify Decision-Making Authority
In a dynamic environment, roles and responsibilities can shift as new information comes in. To avoid confusion and delays, regularly revisit who has decision-making authority and why. Ensure the team has a clear process for decision-making, especially when surprises arise. Encourage regular discussions about the specific problems being solved and establish who is empowered to make decisions after collaboration.

5. Treat Collaboration as a Skill, Not an Intention
Collaboration shouldn’t be an abstract concept. It’s a skill that needs to be clearly defined and developed. Our clients have found that collaboration works best when it’s framed as the co-creation of new knowledge, aligning team members toward shared insights. By defining collaboration clearly, teams can engage more purposefully and efficiently, ensuring that every interaction moves the project forward.

Conclusion

The speed with which you can bring new products to market depends largely on how well your team collaborates and functions as a cohesive unit. By addressing these key people requirements—aligning teams, fostering trust, defining roles, and improving collaboration—you can drastically reduce barriers to innovation and accelerate product development. As a learning leader, it’s your responsibility to help cultivate these practices and build a culture of effective collaboration within your organization.