6
Setting Team Direction
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. (Goethe)
Key Learning Points
- Defining team objectives, vision, mission and action plans
- Why vision and objectives are central to team effectiveness
- The key dimensions and elements of team vision
- Developing a team vision
- Defining and developing a team strategy
Team Objectives
Teams are created to perform a task that individuals working alone or in parallel could not complete or could only complete with great difficulty. The task defines the team therefore rather than the reverse. Once the task is identified, the team can then define its objectives. In our research with many teams across many different organizations, sectors, and nations, we have found clarity of team objectives is the single most important predictor of team success. Yet many teams do not have clear objectives or members disagree about what those objectives are or they are stated in such an imprecise way that they are little more than feel-good statements with no practical value being added to the team’s challenge to reach its goal. Teams should therefore always set clear objectives. Goal-setting theory (about the most axiomatic and well-supported idea in social science) makes it clear that objectives should be clear, challenging and, ideally, team members should be involved in setting the objectives (Locke and Latham, 1990, 2002). Teams should set no more than six or seven ...
