Do you have a target for what you are trying to accomplish? Today’s post by Mark Miller is a reminder that the target is the place to start.
I saw a cartoon years ago in which Charlie Brown shot an arrow at a fence and then proceeded to draw a circle around the arrow. At some level, he found this satisfying. This is not how great leaders think.
Having just returned from our annual meeting with over 5,000 chicken people present, I am thankful we took the time to draw the target before we shot the arrow. We will see what the attendees have to say, but preliminary reports are positive. I think the event hit the mark.
Here’s the leadership lesson that comes to mind as I reflect on the event. One of the reasons it was a success—not the only reason, but one of them–is that we decided what we were trying to accomplish before we created the event. We drew the target BEFORE we shot the arrow.
I’m wondering how often, as leaders, we fail to clearly define the target. I think about all the times my leadership efforts have fallen short … how many of those failures can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to an unclear target or goal?
There are many things leaders CANNOT do for their people. However, clarity regarding intent should never be in short supply. People must always know what they are trying to accomplish.
[Tweet “”The greatest gift leaders can give their people is clarity.” #Vision “]
The power of clarity transcends targets, goals, and objectives – it includes vision, values, and strategic intent, as well as other tactical issues. But what we are trying to accomplish cannot get lost in the process.
When you identify the target with crystal clarity, I think you may be amazed at how often your team will hit the mark.
[Tweet “”Clarity enables alignment, and alignment is a prerequisite for performance.” #ActAsOne “]
To learn the 4 essentials of building a high performance team pick up a copy of Mark’s book, The Secret of Teams, for those you lead.
Tag: teams
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Do You Need More Capacity?
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Over the course of the coming year you will notice several different forms of content on my site. Friday will be a day I focus on building high performance teams and organizations.Today, my friend Mark Miller has written the following guest post as an answer to the difference between the two. His post helps me as I wrestle with the need for increased capacity, which I wrote about here yesterday. Mark has been leading teams for decades and he has written widely on the subject. His book, The Secret of Teams is a must read if you are charged with leading a group.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE: TEAM VS. ORGANIZATION?
Today’s question comes from a leader who is familiar with some of my past work, specifically, The Secret of Teams and Chess Not Checkers. If you are not, here’s a really quick overview: one is about the power of teams and the other is about the largely untapped potential resident in our organizations at large. The question from this leader: “How are the two ideas connected?”
For many years, I had not even considered the connection. My initial efforts were to help leaders who were struggling with capacity issues. Let me explain.
Let’s establish an imaginary scale to represent an individual leader’s capacity. To make the math easy, let’s set that at 100 units of leadership or 100 ul.
As long as the business or organization requires less than 100 ul, everything is great. Then one day, due to increasing complexity, volume, or customer demands, the business need for leadership surpasses the capacity of the individual leader. The new level required is now 120 ul.
Many of you have been here. Your first reaction may have been to work harder. That may increase your leadership capacity to 110 or 115, but your health, your family, and your quality of life begin to suffer – and you realize it is still not enough.
Ultimately, if you don’t address this leadership capacity shortfall, you will become the lid on your organization. That’s when many leaders decide a leadership team would be helpful. And if built and led well, it will! That’s the topic of The Secret of Teams.
With a High Performance Team, your collective leadership capacity may reach 500 ul. At this point life is good… for a while. Then, for any number of reasons – success, unexpected hardship, or just sheer complexity, the demands of your business increase again beyond the capacity of you and your leadership team. Let’s say the new level of demand is 1000 ul. What should a leader do?
My recommendation is to change the game. Rather than continuing to focus on leadership capacity alone, begin to pursue organizational capacity as well. This will require a transformation in thinking and action. This new strategy, to build and sustain a High Performance Organization, becomes the on-going job description of your leadership team. This is the journey I outline in Chess Not Checkers.
So, to my friend who started this post with a question, High Performance Teams create the capacity needed to build a High Performance Organization.
Keep in mind, neither are the end goal – both are strategies to ensure sustained superior performance.
Enjoy the journey!
Mark
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The Invisible Force Behind Amazing Teams
For years, I attempted to learn what separated great teams from the not-so-good ones. All good teams have talented people, their goals are clear and they are well lead. But some teams transcend all the others. They are not simply good – they are great. So, what’s the difference? Here’s what we discovered: The invisible force behind all high performance teams is their sense of community.
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New Video Resource: The Secret of Teams!
Why do some teams flourish while others flounder? That simple question has driven much of my professional work for more than 25 years. Now, The Secret of Teams Video Series unpacks the insights from these decades of work. Take a look at the highlight video (2:00) below and consider joining your host, Randy Gravitt to discover The Secret of Teams!
This article was originally published in May 2012. Tapping into creativity is a constant challenge. I hope this updated post helps jumpstart your team.
In a business climate that can turn on a tweet, creativity is not just an asset, it’s essential. But I’m not just advocating creativity for creativity’s sake – companies need creativity to solve real business problems. Many of the pre-recession ways of doing business are no longer viable. As a seasoned leader shared with me recently, “The half-life of ideas is decreasing rapidly.” So what’s our response?
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