Give Your Team A Purpose

Why is it important for a team to have a common purpose, performance goals and approach? If they don’t, you’ll have chaos. Each member of a team has his/her own perception of what the team is about and each person is different. Without a common purpose, each individual works toward his or her own goal.

The team, as a unit, should have a defined purpose which is focused on your business mission. The team should know why they exist to help accomplish that mission. Additionally, each team should have goals and objectives to accomplish the team purpose and the goals should link directly to the departmental and company objectives.

Management and business partner “buy-in” should be attained up front and revisited throughout the life cycle of the team as business needs change.

The team’s approach includes operating guidelines, rules and commitments such as how they will communicate, how decisions will be made, when they meet and what the meeting format and guidelines will be. These are working agreements which help eliminate confusion and foster cooperation.