Did you read Part 1 and Part 2? To remind you, the heralding of photons is all about detecting something, in this case a single photon, that can be very difficult to detect.

In Part 1 I suggested building signal detectors to monitor key inputs to your project, or team, from other projects or teams because communication breakdowns are seemingly a constant in organisations.

In Part 2 I reminded you that different teams have different language to describe similar things which can often be the cause of communication problems. I suggested, that as per the heralding of photons, you need to calibrate your detectors to make sure they are detecting the right messages.

Now another lesson from the heralded photon. “We started as one, but we have drifted apart.” As I wrote in Part 1, the heralded and unheralded photons start as one, are split, and travel in different directions. Just like many teams in an organisation as they grow. Sales & Marketing splits into Sales and Marketing. HR grows and creates silos of payroll, learning and development, recruitment and talent management.

When we split, we run the risk of misalignment of teams to common goals. A fatal flaw in strategy execution.

To address this risk, let’s use another quantum term. Entanglement. Create metrics and feedback loops that ensure they are aligned even when apart!

You might also consider aligning teams better simply by having them spend some time standing in the shoes of other teams they depend on, and vice versa. Standing in the shoes of others is supercritical for full alignment of teams towards strategic objectives.

And so ends my series on the heralded photon. I hope you have enjoyed it and gained some interesting insights. I’m never sure what’s next. Watch this “space”.