Business Startup - Business News - Business Loans

Building Teams Through Effective Goal Setting

Posted by Internet Guru
April 17, 2008

By Steve Lay

Whether you’re trying to build a team in business, sports or non-profit organization, doing so without establishing goals makes it next to impossible to be successful. Not only do you need to set goals for your teams, you must do so effectively. And that takes following some key guidelines for goal-setting.

Many companies and organizations use what’s called S.M.A.R.T. goals; that is, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. I faced a situation in a manufacturing facility a few years back involving set-up time for a production line going from one product to another. The set-up time was slightly over 12 hours, and we weren’t very competitive. I needed to challenge a team with a goal. I got them together in my office, explained the situation we needed to overcome, and challenged them to reduce the set-up time to 45 minutes. They thought I was crazy; but after promising them whatever resources they needed, they agreed to give it a try. So was this a S.M.A.R.T. goal? Let’s review this seemingly insurmountable challenge.

Specific – I gave them a very specific goal, reduce set-up time from 12 hours to 45 minutes. We needed to be competitive as soon as possible.

Measurable – The goal is easily measurable; how long does it take from the last case on one product line to the first good case of the next.

Achievable – Though they thought I was a bit crazy, I was convinced they had the technical skills necessary to achieve the goal. They merely needed to work together as a team to complete the task.

Realistic – At first, the team certainly didn’t think I was being realistic, but when promised whatever resources they thought necessary, they realized that perhaps it could be done. I actually would have been happy with 3-4 hours, but stretching them a bit brought out qualities they hadn’t used before.

Timely – It was certainly timely. Our manufacturing facility was only a couple of years old and it was imperative that we should the corporation we could be competitive with our product lines. It didn’t necessarily mean survival, but did mean business growth.

So how did they do? Well, six moths later, this team had the privilege to demonstrating a product set-up for the CEO of our company. But it they didn’t complete it in 45 minutes. They finished the set-up in an amazing 20 minutes. What an accomplishment! And it never would have happened without being challenge with a specific goal; a S.M.A.R.T. goal. With a goal in hand, they resources they needed, and a little trust in their abilities

from their boss, they accomplished what seemed to be unachievable.

Here are some key steps to follow when setting challenging goals for your team.

1. Identify the Goal – make it clear and write down what you want to accomplish.

2. List Benefits – write down why you want to accomplish the goal, and how it will benefit the team. They need to know what’s in it for them.

3. Set a Deadline – without a deadline, your team will quickly lose its sense of urgency.

4. List Obstacles – make sure the team is aware of the potential road-blocks, real or imagined, that might keep them from achieving the goal.

5. Identify Resources – who are the people, groups or organizations that will be necessary to help achieve the goal; and what are the tools that will be needed.

6. List Skills – make sure your team has all the skills necessary to accomplish the task; provide training before they start if they aren’t adequately equipped.

7. Develop Plan of Action – it must be written and detailed, providing action steps, responsible person or persons, and specific intermediate time table for the individual steps so that the ultimate goal can be achieved in a timely manner.

8. Communicate Effectively – make sure everyone understand each of the previous steps, and knows exactly what it will take from them individually and collectively to accomplish the task. Remember, effective communication is critical.

9. Follow-Up – periodic follow-up helps the team stay on track, and allows you to provide additional resources as necessary. If you wait till the due date to check up on a project, you probably won’t be satisfied with the results.

10. Reward – once the team has achieved the goal, reward them. Whether it’s with a financial bonus or a special team dinner, let them know you appreciate what they’ve accomplished.

So, if you want to be a “smart” leader, set some effectively communicated S.M.A.R.T. goals for your team.

Steve Lay has nearly 20 years of experience in building teams in the manufacturing environment, and is now developing those team building skills in the network marketing business. He’s currently studying how to improve his skills in network marketing, then build his network marketing team using his past business experience. For more information on building your business skills, check out his blog at http://www.laymarketing.com
Recommend Plugin Profit Site

Related Posts:

  1. Effective Resume Writing For Data Entry Jobs Online Most people seem to be under the impression that applying...
  2. Prepare a business plan- part two Marketing and sales This section should describe the specific activities...

Home Business Entrepreneurs

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Comments

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

(required)

(required)