Determining shared objectives ensures an agreed team focus, direction and expectations.
As your team first gets together, allocate time – even 15 minutes – to determine your objectives as a group.
Decide and agree to expectations of:
- yourself
- others
- the project
Give people 24 hours to come up with their own list of expectations.
Group together, share the expectations by writing them on a whiteboard.
If any person disagrees with any expectations, that is the time to pipe up and be vocal! Otherwise, it’s set in stone.
What you will notice is that the three areas of focus – self, others, the business – tend to raise similar expectations and you will end up with one single list.
The value of this list is that it can be used as an agenda item each month to ensure everyone maintains their integrity. When people issues arise, you can sit down with one or both parties, refer to the list and say very very little. There is no need! It’s in black and white what people agreed to from themselves.
Examples of expectations may include:
- Being on time
- Doing what you say will do
- Honesty (acknowledging omission is dishonesty)
- Transparency
- Communication
- Support
- Respect
- Say something if you disagree
- Always find a positive perspective
- What others can you think of?
Remember to let the team create the list as individuals first. Do not give examples first, as it leads to group-think! The group comes together to consolidate and agree after individual brainstorming and decisions.
