'Your Team Needs the 2011 Answers'

Most organizations have multiple documents at both the corporate and functional levels describing their vision, mission, values, strategies, tactics, accountabilities, etc. Most organizations have too many. And they are often written in nebulous terms - 'world class', 'reinventing ourselves', 'thinking globally', 'embracing change', etc. - and penned too long ago to have any impact on employee behavior today. What each employee needs to understand at the beginning of 2011 is:

·        what is the team going to accomplish

·        and what are their individual roles in making the above happen

This understanding generates a unified focus, synergy and teamwork. Employees:

·        feel a sense of purpose and a part of something greater than themselves

·        know where they 'fit in' and that what they do makes a difference

·        understand their accountability and are able to set appropriate priorities

·        can make efficient decisions without seeking supervisory input

But most importantly, employees become able to and will make a greater contribution. 

Too many managers assume their team members have the same understanding of the team's priorities as they do. As a result, too many employees who are not sure of the team's current mission act on their own assumptions until someone tells them differently. This lack of clarity results in valuable resources not delivering to their potential.

Managers are responsible for directional clarity. And they can enhance that clarity/translate visions into specific actions on the ground by working with their teams to collectively answering a few core questions - such as:

·        in the context of the organization's purpose why does the team exist?

·        what's the team's role in helping the organization achieve its purpose?

·        who are the team's customers and what are these customers expecting the team to provide them in the form of products and services?

·        how do these customers define the value that they expect to receive from the team?

·        who are the team's competitors - that is, what are the customers' options for getting their needs met?

·        how do these customers view the team's performance versus the products and services they would receive from the competition?

·        what is the team supposed to do? what are the team's goals for this year, quarter, week, etc?

·        what are each of the team member's priority accountabilities that must cascade down and be achieved in order for the team to reach its goals?

·        how will each team member's performance toward those responsibilities be measured? how will each team member know whether he/she has been successful?

Conducting a planning meeting to document answers to these questions consumes time and people resources. But it might be the best investment of your time in the beginning of 2011. Conducting business without these answers wastes time and people resources.

In working through these questions with many teams we at The Focus Group have frequently seen employees leave these planning sessions with not only new insight as to their direction - but also an enhanced awareness of their customers' needs, their colleagues roles and challenges, etc.

Understandably, sometimes - due to the speed of change in the marketplace - managers are hesitant to initiate this type of planning process because they are not sure they have the correct answers to these planning questions. This may be the case. But there is one thing a manager can be sure of - if they don't have the answers, their team members certainly don't.