The team experience can be a disaster. However, they can also be fantastic.
The level of your team’s performance is not a random event. Teams that are successful need planning focus to action and occasionally intervention.
There are specific steps you can take to avoid the most unpleasant team experience from taking place.
One of the most crucial things to avoid the “misfiring group that is made of people who aren’t quite right” experience (which occurs more frequently than you believe) is to set up regular team meetings.
It’s an easy but essential method to keep your group’s attention and focus on their familiar customer and the common goals of their customers.
The time required to plan and organize these check-ins for the team is minimal in comparison to the time it takes the team to tidy up after mistakes and miscalculations, should they get into a fight or go in the wrong direction.
Here are some tips to ensure you have a successful check-in for your team:
1. Start on the same page.
Be sure that everyone is aware of who your clients are for this project or project and what they are looking for from you.
Translate the customer’s goal to the ultimate goal of the team… as well as what is the ultimate goal for this project in smaller targets that are aligned with the overall goal.
They can be given with due dates, to small groups or to individual individuals in the group.
To make sure that you’re talking about the same topic when you’re working, easy tools like a glossary with frequently used terms can be helpful, too. This is particularly important if the job is particular as well as the workforce is cross-functional.
Decide when and how you will conduct the regular check-ins for your team. If possible, you should hold your kickoff session in person.
Make sure that all check-ins are regularly scheduled in everyone’s calendar and make sure they’re there.
2. Keep the same page
Conduct your regular team calls or meet-ups as you plan.
Make sure that meetings and team calls are productive and effective. A lot of teams discover that if they have a fixed agenda, reports, discussions, and other tasks they have to accomplish at the same time will be completed more effectively. The team members know what they can expect.
Set up team rules for the team and follow them. Start with a base of guidelines, then modify them in a group to create your own, then follow them regularly.
Make sure that everyone is accountable for how they use the time of others effectively.
And throughout the process, be focused on the shared customers and the goals. This will help to ensure that everyone is on the same level.
3. Don’t believe you’re on precisely the same level just because you’ve been there before.
Because of this, it is easy to make assumptions. Make.
Many times, assumptions come up innocently enough.
They can be a result of an attempt to make communication easier and faster in the course of arriving at conclusions and taking action.
However, simplification often snuffs over something that is significant.
You might observe a problem begin to develop and then assume that everyone else is experiencing the same issue.
However, that might not be the scenario… the issue might be just you that noticed indications of danger or problems.
Most of the time, emergencies and urgencies or even more minor issues (but issues, nevertheless) can be prevented with simple team follow-ups and communication.
It’s as simple as spending the time and an effort to understand or confirm a fact that turns out to be extremely important.
In case of doubt, consult.
4. Connect the ends
As a group, you must begin.
Keep a group together.
As a team, finish.
Don’t turn into an angry bickering bunch with well-meaning but misfiring members that are stricken with the horrible feelings of “Don’t ever let me be a part of this group ever again!”
Team experiences don’t need to be played out in this way.
No matter if you are working together in the near future and not going to gain some knowledge from this project, it can make the next team experience more efficient.
Create this specific project or team an extraordinarily productive and satisfying experience.
“Teams are a great experience?” Are you asking?
They indeed can become… they could even be one of the most memorable moments of your professional and personal life If they’re developed and effectively managed. Regular team meetings are a crucial element of the experience.
Jan Richards mentors and provides online training for teams and leaders who are looking to change or improve their performance, but it hasn’t been implemented in the past due to one of a myriad of reasons. A seasoned business and entrepreneur, Jan has led many companies and teams through a massive transformation and improvement projects. She is located in the ever-changing Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay region. Her clients include big and small businesses, mostly in biotech, technology, as well as financial services, and telecoms. She holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BS in journalism from Iowa State. She was an examiner in the national competition for Malcolm Baldrige’s National Quality Award for five years. Prior to launching her own consulting business, Jan worked for seven years at Apple Computer, where she worked in and led teams that enhanced vital business processes in the development of products, manufacturing distribution, finance, and administration, as well as marketing and sales.