3 resources on overcoming misalignment

A lack of alignment between different groups is now the second most-cited barrier to innovation, according to the latest trends and predictions report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

That finding won’t surprise anyone working inside a media organization. Great ideas stall not because they’re bad, but because teams pull in different directions or decision-making is fragmented.

With that in mind, this week’s edition brings together three resources that look at alignment from different angles: from general team dynamics, to media-specific stakeholder management, to concrete case studies from inside newsrooms. Together, they offer practical ways to reduce friction and get more done together this year.

Let’s get this out of the way: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is cheesy in the way that only business books can be. But the upside is that it’s a fast read (you can get through it in an afternoon & here’s a recap) and it’s packed with insights that still hold up.

The book explores five core dysfunctions that prevent teams from working well together, through a fictionalized story of a leadership team that’s failing, and slowly learning how to function as a real team. While it’s framed around leadership, the lessons apply just as much to individual contributors.

If you ever feel like something is “off” in your team (or between teams) this framework gives you language to diagnose what’s wrong: trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, or focus on results. Even if you don’t read the full book, understanding these dynamics can make it easier to spot where alignment is breaking down and why.

Bringing this closer to home, Selma Stern, writing for Audiencers, offers a very practical take on how to work effectively with different stakeholders inside a media organization.

Her advice is written with subscription teams in mind, but it applies far more broadly. At its core, it’s about operating without full control: learning how to influence decisions when you don’t own them outright.

That means:

• Using storytelling to frame ideas in a way others care about

• Building consensus instead of pushing solutions

• Being clear-eyed about what is and isn’t within your power to change

For anyone working cross-functionally, this is a grounded article on how you can collaborate together.

If the first two resources give you language and mental models, this final resource show how it plays out in the real world. It isn’t a single article, but a series of interviews and case studies by Mariah Craddick, Executive Director of Prodcut at The Atlantic.

In these pieces, she speaks with product leaders across different media organizations about how they actually collaborate with editorial, engineering, and other teams to build news products together. These are real examples of what alignment looks like in practice, including the trade-offs, tensions, and compromises involved.

Here are some good ones in the series to get you started:

• Svenska Dagbladet case study

• The iPaper case study

• The Philadelphia Inquirer case study