How to Create a Team Vision That Will Result In Concrete Actions

Successful teams know where they’re heading. They know that success takes a lot of work … and a share of mistakes along the way.

Leaders who mean business start with the team vision and make this relevant by making sure it helps the team get closer to achieving a business objective.

But what makes the team vision so powerful?

If you don’t know where you’re going, you probably aren’t going to get there. – Yogi Berra

Creating a Winning Team Vision

The team vision guides team choices. It brings meaning and purpose, and it empowers the team to deal effectively and courageously with challenges.

Vision is about the destination. It is where you want to be.

Because the team vision conveys the team’s raison d’être and what it aims to do, it is our guide to team life and choices. But, this means it has to be believable and something people can connect with.

The idea of the vision is to describe the team when it is running at full tilt and without limits. So, it makes much sense for the team to contribute to their vision.

Let the team identify with the vision. Ask the team these questions:

1. What is working well?
2. What’s holding us back?
3. What can we do better?
4. How well does this fit with corporate objectives?
5. What’s the most important thing we do?
6. What are our customers saying about us?
7. What do our customers want from us?
8. What exactly do we want to do?
9. How do we turn these ideas into an inspiring team vision?
10. How can we communicate our vision?

Turning the Vision Into Concrete Actions

In Three Reasons Your Team Won’t Reach Its Full Potential I said an idea is worthless unless it is implemented. The same holds true for the vision.

Now let’s look at turning the team vision into a concrete action plan.

1. Describe Your Goals

What keeps me going is goals. – Muhammad Ali

Goals describe the tangible steps the team must take to move toward the vision. Goals describe the desired result. They are a broad, general expression of the team’s aspirations.

While goals may be broad, they must still focus on outcomes. They portray the team’s vision and answer the question: What will it look like when the team begins to fulfil the vision?

So, think of a few things the team wants to achieve and measure to support the vision.

2. Set SMART Objectives

Management by objectives works if you know the objectives, 90% of the time you don’t. – Peter Drucker

When the team identifies how to measure progress it is setting objectives. Team objectives give more detail, they are focused and time-bound.

Objectives should always be SMART:

Specific,
Measurable,
Agreed,
Realistic, and
Timed.

SMART objectives challenge the team but are always achievable. What’s more, responsibility for each objective should be assigned to someone in the team and progress measured.

3. Draw Up the Action Plan

Once you have objectives it is time to draw up an action plan. This provides the basis for managing daily progress toward goals and objectives.

Complete it with the team and refer to it at regular one-to-one supervision meetings.

When actions are completed, and an objective fulfilled, the team develops a greater sense of purpose and achievement. Success breeds success. This is a hallmark of the high performance team.

Remember, the team will be more effective when it participates in developing and delivering the team vision, its goals and objectives.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Want to know more about leading teams?

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Creative Commons image courtesy Celestine Chua / Personal Excellence.