QA: How to Scale with no Alignment on Value or Culture

The core insight is that misalignment on value or culture doesn't have to be a dead end; a simple tool called a working agreement can surface expectations and build a shared language for change. By deliberately asking how a counterpart defines success, what their near-term objectives are, and which metrics guide their performance, leaders create a factual basis for alignment instead of guessing.

Those questions turn vague friction into concrete discussion points. When you understand the pressures another team faces, you can earn trust by showing you care about their outcomes. The conversation often reveals hidden blockers - for example, managers being left out of planning, excess work-in-progress starving capacity for learning, or experiments that never become visible to the wider org.

From that discovery you co-author a working agreement that includes specific requests: involve managers early, reduce WIP to free bandwidth for new approaches, make experiments visible and iterate, and present learnings in a safe, non-judgmental space. Those clauses give both sides a clear, actionable contract that reduces guesswork and builds a foundation for cultural shift.

Once the agreement is in place you jointly prioritize the highest-impact opportunities and broadcast them broadly. Crystal-clear communication about the top priority signals that the teams are now aligned, and that signal is the catalyst for broader cultural change. The process is messy and gradual, but the working agreement provides the scaffolding to turn misalignment into coordinated progress.