Great teams have shared purposes and performance goals
Just for a moment…think about a great team that you’ve been a member of. For many of us this is likely to be a sports team or local residents getting together to host a street party or friends planning a trip or work colleagues planning an event. It’s very likely there was a shared purpose eg win the game, celebrate, have a great event. And there were probably performance goals which emerged during conversations eg full team turns up on match days, food that appeals to a variety of dietary requirements, event feedback is positive.
Now think about teams at work. Think about groups of people you enjoy working with. It’s likely these groups have shared purposes and clear goals. People feel engaged, committed, are able to find time for the work, innovate together and are supportive. And they deliver, often outstanding results. Sometimes teams can emerge as a conversation results in an idea which then leads to bringing a small group of ‘like minded’ people together to deliver something they care about. In healthcare many QI projects have these characteristics.
A lack of purpose and performance goals can be hard work and performance can be variable
Now think about teams/groups that sap your energy and meetings which feel a waste of time. It’s likely these don’t have a shared purpose or performance goals. Individuals maybe performing in some areas but also duplicating work, clashing in approach or there may be conflict. Sadly, for many of us our ‘home’ team – the team the organisational structure chart puts us in – is in this category of energy sapping.
How to strengthen purpose and performance goals
If the people in your team each have different responsibilities and you’re not dependent on each other to do your work, consider having a shared purpose that focuses on mutual support and wellbeing. For example, meeting on a regular basis to talk about problems and potential solutions, go for short lunchtime walks together. Or maybe practical support such as monitoring an email inbox during leave.
If you are dependent on others in your team to deliver high quality work, or others are dependent on you, consider a team development session to discuss a shared purpose that everyone believes in. It’s the discussions that are important. It may feel, particularly for the team leader that the team are spending too much time discussing and debating and patience/listening is key. It should take a number of conversations over weeks/months with the full participation of everyone in the team to agree on a purpose that’s meaningful. It needs to be aligned with the direction of travel of the organisation, with customer/patient needs and with the team’s needs. And then think about what success is… this will give rise to performance goals. Again, discussions take time which is important. When purpose and goals are shared and agreed team members become more committed, more engaged and start to have more fun as they thrive, and performance improves. The team is flying!
Support for managers and leaders 