Posts Tagged ‘teams and results’

Some teams seem to just keep delivering great results while others never seem to get out of the starting blocks.  So what is it that sets the successful teams apart from the less successful?

Hallmark 1: Challenging Objectives

A successful team thrives on challenge and setting them challenging objectives is a great way to motivate them.  Challenging objectives are those that will require significant effort, creativity and imagination to achieve, and at the same time are not so demanding that they feel impossible.

As a leader of a team, the skill you need to master is to set challenging but at the same time achievable objectives.

Hallmark 2: Common Purpose

Why does the team exist in the first place?  Does everyone in the team totally understand the purpose and are they really committed to it?
To achieve success a team needs to fully understand the team purpose and collectively get behind achieving the purpose. 

Making the time to clearly define the team purpose is absolutely essential.  For example, eliminating wasted capacity might not be a great motivator for some.  On the other hand, serving more customers or service users is more than likely to motivate most.

Hallmark 3: Use Resources Smartly

In truth most teams will find themselves short of some resources.  It might be financial resources such a budget or an intangible like a specific skill.  Successful teams know that constraints or limitations will always exist so they focus on using their resources smartly.

Hallmark 4: Mutual Trust

Trust is one of the most essential things in any successful teams and in truth is often one of the most difficult things to achieve.  It takes time, commitment and a willingness to rely on others to deliver.  In many cases it takes a major shift in mindset to achieve.

Hallmark 5: Taking the Rough with the Smooth

No team has it easy all of the time.  There will be periods of amazing progress and periods where the team just feels stuck.  Successful teams understand this and learn to keep focus on the purpose through the good and not so good times.

Bottom Line – Teams success is never guaranteed but keeping your attention on these hallmarks of successful teams can help you to achieve results.

When leading workshops, training or speaking about teams, I often get people to think about what the key characteristics are of the best teams.

Without exception, having a common goal is one of the first things that people tend to highlight. So why are goals seen as so powerful when it comes to team working?

Firstly a goal gives everyone a clear and specific outcome to aim for.  The team knows what is trying to deliver and has a clear direction of travel.

Secondly, delivering the goal, especially if it is going to make a big difference to a number of stakeholders becomes a huge desire for those in the team.  This desire drives the team on, even when things are tough.

Thirdly a common goal breaks down the barriers of which function or specialism people work in and shifts the attention to delivering the result.

We all know that teams have huge potential to deliver great results.  How has the existence or lack of a goal impacted on the results your team delivers?