Uniting new hires and experienced teams for better collaboration
In 2013, a global technology company faced a major challenge: scaling its design capabilities to support the organization’s ambitious goals. To meet this demand, the company launched a hiring initiative, bringing in thousands of designers from universities and cohort programs.
But rapid growth came with challenges. New hires were unfamiliar with the company’s scale and enterprise-level problems. Established teams, deeply rooted in a technical culture, were hesitant to embrace design as a critical function. Misalignment and miscommunication between new and existing team members threatened to derail progress.
The challenge: integrating new talent and aligning teams
The organization needed a way to:
- Onboard and align new designers with the company’s goals and values.
- Build trust and collaboration between new and existing team members.
- Overcome cultural resistance to design’s role in innovation.
- Deliver impactful outcomes to business units while keeping costs in check.
These challenges were complex but deeply familiar to any team working through growth or change.
The solution: fostering collaboration through structure
The onboarding program became a proving ground for collaboration and communication. Designers were placed into diverse teams and tasked with solving real-world challenges in a six-week incubation period. Success required more than technical skills—it demanded:
- Alignment: Teams were carefully structured based on skills and experience, ensuring balance and clarity in roles.
- Communication: Designers learned how to communicate effectively with stakeholders, including executives and engineers.
- Collaboration: Teams worked closely with business units and users, co-creating solutions that delivered real value.
- Resilience: Teams were encouraged to pivot, experiment, and iterate, building trust and shared ownership of outcomes.
The results: unified teams and measurable impact
The approach delivered lasting results:
- Teams not only completed their projects but also integrated smoothly into the larger organization, aligned with its goals and culture.
- A shared sense of purpose emerged, bridging gaps between new and existing team members.
- The program’s success inspired business units to adopt the outcomes, resulting in high-impact projects that shaped future client experiences.
Same Team’s take: unlocking team potential
Every team, regardless of size, faces challenges when bringing in new members or navigating change. The lessons learned in this program—structured onboarding, aligned roles, and trust-building collaboration—are the same principles we use at Same Team to help organizations thrive. Whether you’re scaling rapidly or tackling a new challenge, we help teams communicate, collaborate, and succeed together.
- Field Strategy (Leader Coaching): Guides leaders in structuring onboarding and aligning teams.
- Workshops: Helps teams co-create impactful solutions during onboarding or early-stage projects.
- Bench Coach (Fractional Leadership): Supports leadership in scaling rapidly while maintaining team cohesion.
Read next: Aligning teams to create empathetic digital transformation
