---
id: "concept-social-glue"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ Integrating disparate intentions and ways of working", "¶21"]
tags: ["team-dynamics", "culture"]
related: ["concept-bridger", "action-articulate-shared-intention", "concept-mutual-trust-influence-commitment", "framework-three-functions-of-bridgers"]
definition: "The shared values, norms, and overarching intentions that bind partners together, dictating how they interact and problem-solve during complex collaborations."
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/why-great-innovations-fail-to-scale"
source_title: "Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale"
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-nm-102-innovations-fail-to-scale"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/why-great-innovations-fail-to-scale"
sourceTitle: "Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale"
---
# Social Glue

**Social glue** refers to the shared values and norms that dictate how partners interact and problem-solve together during an innovation initiative. While coordinating tasks and establishing operating models are critical, building social glue is equally important and often goes unappreciated — it is the relational counterpart to structural coordination.

[[concept-bridger|Bridgers]] build this glue by repeatedly articulating and reminding partners of their **shared intention** or **'north star'** — for example, *'we will revolutionize the way customers make payments.'* Crucially, they explicitly link this shared intention to the individual (and sometimes defensive) priorities of each partner ([[action-articulate-shared-intention]]). In moments of heated debate or operational friction, the shared intention serves as a **tiebreaker** and sustains the energy and motivation of partners through the volatile ups and downs of innovation.

Social glue is what makes the [[concept-mutual-trust-influence-commitment|mutual trust, influence, and commitment]] triad durable rather than momentary. It is produced during the **integrating** phase of the [[framework-three-functions-of-bridgers|three functions]] and is exemplified by [[entity-nicole-m-jones|Nicole M. Jones]] at Delta's [[entity-org-the-hangar|The Hangar]], who kept a risk-averse IT team and the fast-moving startup CLEAR aligned by continually reconnecting their work to a shared customer-experience north star. The construct aligns with broader organizational-culture literature on shared vision and psychological safety; the specific term 'social glue' is Hill's framing for that shared social infrastructure.