Patrick Lencioni wrote in his book, the 5 Dysfunctions of a team, that one of the dysfunctions is inattention to results. What he says is team performance suffers when team members are focused on pursuing individual goals instead of collective success.
To get your team focus on team success, here are 3 things for you to consider:
- You need to define what team success is – though it might seem trivial, it is important to be very specific about what team success means. Sales growth and sales growth from a product category are very different. If you want everyone to paddle in the same direction, you need to be very clear and specific on what the team goals are.
- You need to agree on an action plan – the action plan describes who does what, when and how. By discussing the action items, priorities, timeline, and who is responsible with your team, you get their input. At the same time, you get their commitment to that action plan.
- You need to identify the results to monitor – performance monitoring is crucial for identifying stumbling blocks. Get your team involved in determining the results that are relevant to keep a close eye on. This helps them understand and acknowledge the need for monitoring. You get their buy-in.
When everyone knows what the team strives for and a clear roadmap on how to get there, he becomes focused on the indicators used to reflect on progress. He also becomes more engaged with team success.
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