Navigating Territorial Expertise in Teams

It’s Not Physical Space that Determines Territory, but Expertise

Expertise and Knowledge Define Our Team Territory

People are territorial, but it's not always about physical space.

A podcast I was listening to mentioned our territory is our expertise.

This makes so much sense as we guard our ego in the areas we are (or are supposed to be) the expert.

This also explains why there is so much conflict in cross functional teams.

Imagine a department is represented by physical territory. When someone represents a department, they are a representing the whole territory.

Basic expectations, norms, communication modalities and even how the mission, vision, and values show up can be vastly different in each territory.

As organizations get larger, so can the variance between these territories.

Let's say like me, you are from the land of ops where process and systems are rule. Yet when you work together with people from, let's say Creativia (That's obviously the name of marketing's territory 😀) there's a high likelihood of some clash occurring based on workstyles.

This shows up in day to day work, product and project teams, and especially senior leadership.

So much domain expertise exists but is not explicitly stated, making it hard to align and move forward together.

Next time you see conflict, ask if there is something being assumed.

It may be a level of domain knowledge, a way of working, or a unique unstated goal that is driving the conflict.

This is why I LOVE doing LEGO based workshops with cross functional groups. Getting people to build out shared goals and how to get there is extremely rewarding, mostly because it strips away ego in a playful and creative way.

What do you think? How have you seen territorialism come to life in the office?