How to Set Up Your Team for Success

Do You Know How to Set Up Your Team for Success?
Teams of people, not individuals, most often drive results in companies these days.  Teams that fail often lack clear direction, are unable to manage conflict, and have misaligned incentive systems.  Teams that succeed have clear goals, work well together, and are well-suited to the job at hand.

High Performing Teams
Even though building high performing teams is a critical success factor, too many leaders ask their teams to get work done without setting them up to succeed.  Companies that understand how to build high performing teams are companies that manage their talent right, individual by individual, job by job, role by role, team by team.

Three Steps to Set Up Your Team for Success
To set up your teams for success, start by following these three team tips:

1. Set the Stage
   Our organizational alignment research found that strategic clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing teams. Start by making sure that every member of the team understands the team’s purpose, goals, and how success will be measured.Then make sure that roles and interdependencies are understood and aligned with preferences, capabilities, and bandwidth.  Your objective is to make sure that work is organized and shared in a way that clearly leads to accomplishing the team’s goals.

   Once goals and roles are accepted, it is time to agree on standards of behavior, a process for decision making, and a method for resolving conflicts that may arise.  Your objective is to promote trust, collaboration, openness, and continuous improvement.

2. Align Incentives and Accountability
   High performing team incentives are aligned to reward and recognize both individual and team performance. Effective team incentive systems are timely, have an explicit cause and effect relationship, are customized to the team’s goals and individuals, and are deemed fair and proportionate.To create accountability ensure high levels of transparency and trust around how success is monitored, communicated, and measured.
3. Keep It Personal
   Remember that a team is made up of individuals with different backgrounds, interests, modes of communication, strengths, and needs. One size does not fit all.  It’s important to get to know what engages and motivates each team member.

The Bottom Line
When you as a team leader can help set the team’s purpose and standards, their priorities and activities, their appreciation for each other’s strengths, you equip your team for success.  Are you taking the time required up front to set your team up for success?

To learn more about how to set your team up for success, download How Much Can you You’re your Team to Do More – The Science Behind Performance Expectations