After more than three decades of studying and participating on project teams, I believe there is really a short list of reasons so many of these teams fail. Sometimes it’s a leadership issue on the team, sometimes it’s a resource question and in some situations, the team will fail because of outside factors beyond their control. But there is one reason that towers above all the others…
How do you keep score? How does your team keep score? What does a win look like? Are these questions you immediately have an answer for, or do they make you stop and think? Do you have an answer at all? I believe this is one of the most critical factors in human engagement. I think it’s true at home, at work and even where we play.
How good is your team at making decisions? If you said not great, my guess is you could use some help with your decision-making protocol. When a decision needs to be made, every leader has several choices regarding how to proceed. However, many leaders and their teams don’t understand their decision-making options.
How can you tell if someone is fully engaged? I’ve asked that question in workshop settings with leaders from around the world. Would you be surprised that I get virtually the same answers everywhere I go?