1345: The Perfect World: Helping Your Team Understand and Commit to Team Goals by Laura Stack of The Productivity Pro

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[00:00:57] This is Optimal Work Daily, episode 1345.

[00:01:01] The Perfect World, Helping Your Team Understand and Commit to Team Goals by Laura Stack of the ProductivityPro.com

[00:01:09] And I'm Dan, I'm your host, and I'm here with you every single day of the week, and that includes weekends and holidays.

[00:01:15] And what we do here is we take these great posts from bloggers who write about work and productivity and entrepreneurship

[00:01:22] and we turn that content into quick, bite-sized podcasts that you can tackle in usually under about 10 minutes.

[00:01:28] So we're gonna jump right into our post from today as we hear from Laura Stack and optimize your life.

[00:01:33] The Perfect World, Helping Your Team Understand and Commit to Team Goals by Laura Stack of the ProductivityPro.com

[00:01:46] Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment

[00:01:50] End quote. Jim Rohn, American business and motivational speaker.

[00:01:55] In a near perfect world, the type most people would love when they join a new company,

[00:02:00] a department, division or team's leader would act purely as a facilitator, establishing the group's goals,

[00:02:07] communicating them plainly to everyone on the team and clearing the way from the team's current location to their future destination.

[00:02:14] He or she would promote the team goals in a way that made it clear what each team member should expect,

[00:02:19] precisely what they needed to do and how the tasks the team member accomplished moved the entire organization toward its ultimate goals.

[00:02:27] These near perfect conditions do exist in some organizations I've worked.

[00:02:31] They aren't common and they don't always work as expected,

[00:02:34] but they do occur and when they do the productivity of the relevant team often proves fantastic.

[00:02:40] Most well constructed teams can achieve this near perfect scenario regularly if everyone involved cares enough to make it happen.

[00:02:47] It may be difficult, but it's by no means impossible.

[00:02:51] In a perfect world, everyone on the team would automatically grasp the team goals,

[00:02:55] understand instinctively why they mattered and how to move forward with them both as individuals and as a team.

[00:03:01] They would also contribute to establishing those goals,

[00:03:04] donating a healthy amount of discretionary time and effort toward completing them on time and under budget.

[00:03:10] Somewhere this may very well have happened a few times and it's certainly what we'd all like to see.

[00:03:15] In cases like these, productivity would rise to an outrageously high level.

[00:03:20] Welcome to the real world.

[00:03:22] While I hate to seem cynical,

[00:03:24] perfect and near-perfect scenarios occur only rarely and when they do they serve as shining beacons for us all.

[00:03:31] But for every jobs era Apple or Golden Age Disney,

[00:03:34] thousands of organizations just scrape by.

[00:03:37] If it were as easy to go from good to great as some authors suggest, we'd all have achieved greatness by now.

[00:03:43] The biggest stumbling block remains human nature.

[00:03:46] We're often positively pig-headed, which often strikes sparks and causes trouble within the team.

[00:03:52] This fails us when our egos insist we know better than everyone else and refuse to let go of old ways that no longer work,

[00:03:59] even as we struggle to implement new processes.

[00:04:02] On the other hand, our obstinacy also represents our greatest strength when independence and creativity combine to form forward-thinking innovation.

[00:04:10] But it doesn't always and often leadership can't or won't effectively communicate its goals to the team.

[00:04:16] Whether the leader or the team is at fault doesn't matter. A broken team is a broken team.

[00:04:21] Sometimes a team member has to quietly take charge, pull things together and move the team forward in spite of itself.

[00:04:28] The only other option is to let dysfunction drag the team under. If you're a team member,

[00:04:32] you shouldn't have to encourage your teammates to get off their doves and do their jobs. But hey, welcome to the real world.

[00:04:38] Consider it on-the-job training for something bigger in your future.

[00:04:42] If you think about it,

[00:04:43] I suspect you can come up with several examples in business and sports where one person's hard work has kept the team afloat or

[00:04:49] one team kept the entire company alive.

[00:04:52] Actually, it is your job. When the team's goals seem obscure and a leadership helpless,

[00:04:58] you may wonder how you can possibly help. After all, setting and steering the team toward its goals isn't your job, is it?

[00:05:05] Well, if you don't do it, who will? You can't just assume someone else will grab the helm.

[00:05:10] First, speak to your leader and ask for direction. If he or she seems overwhelmed, tell that person

[00:05:16] you'll happily rally the team. Meet with your teammates and dust off your team goals as you understand them.

[00:05:21] Check them for strategic alignment with the organization's goals. If they've drifted off course, work them back around to where they belong,

[00:05:27] then keep moving forward. If you work in a finance department, for example,

[00:05:32] your goals may consist of straightening out the company's books,

[00:05:35] ensuring taxes get paid on time, working with HR to pay for benefits and salaries, and a myriad of other tasks.

[00:05:42] Your organization needs you to take care of these, so with or without leadership,

[00:05:46] clarify and commit to these goals so you can hit your targets.

[00:05:49] Similarly, if you work as a principal investigator in an environmental firm,

[00:05:53] your goal may be to find more work within private industry and the federal government, to respond to requests for proposals,

[00:06:00] RFPs, and to ensure your team members meet the minimum professional standards for their jobs.

[00:06:05] A programmer might want to stir his team into action on the projects they're currently working on, to ensure there's no repeat of 3D Realms'

[00:06:12] infamous 12-year failure to produce the next installment of their popular Duke Nukem series.

[00:06:17] In all these cases, self-interest serves as a strong motivator in the form of simply keeping your jobs.

[00:06:23] 3D Realms was a special case.

[00:06:25] It was so cash-flush after its initial success that it wasted time and talent for over a decade before it fell apart.

[00:06:32] If your team's productivity flatlines, though, you may find yourself on the chopping block before you know it.

[00:06:40] You may not have a dysfunctional team.

[00:06:42] Still, it can't hurt to get together with your teammates, including your leader,

[00:06:46] and make sure you all understand your goals and how to achieve them.

[00:06:50] It may not be your job, but it can't hurt to feel out your teammates occasionally,

[00:06:54] to check their commitment levels and see how well they understand the team goals.

[00:06:58] If things seem a bit vague, do what you can to pump up interest and commitment.

[00:07:02] Don't usurp your leader's power and authority, but work toward becoming one of the keystone players who keeps the team alive.

[00:07:12] You just listened to the post titled, The Perfect World, Helping Your Team Understand and Commit to Team Goals, by Laura Stack of the ProductivityPro.com.

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[00:08:51] And a big thank you to Laura for sharing her work today.

[00:08:53] She is an award winning keynote speaker and bestselling author of eight books, obviously known as the productivity pro for good reason.

[00:09:00] Her engaging personality combined with over 25 years of experience helping organizations achieve results have made her one of the most sought after experts and keynote speakers in her field.

[00:09:10] Laura has been featured in the New York Times USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur and Forbes magazine.

[00:09:16] And has been a spokesperson for Microsoft, Danon, 3M, Office Depot, Xerox and more.

[00:09:22] And if that wasn't enough, her client list includes top fortune 500 companies including Starbucks, Walmart, Bank of America, GM, Wells Fargo and Time Warner.

[00:09:32] Plus government agencies such as the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Census Bureau, the Senate and the IRS.

[00:09:38] So there is a lot of experience there and a lot to learn from her.

[00:09:41] So simply come by the productivity pro dot com for all of that.

[00:09:45] She's got her videos, books, store newsletter and blog all there.

[00:09:49] Again, that's the productivity pro dot com.

[00:09:52] And with that, I wish you a great rest of your day and I will see you back here again tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.