Teamwork skills - goal setting

Goal setting is important for both organizations and individuals.When you set goals, you make plans for the future.As the leader you will need to have the vision for the future.Having a vision means you have a plan for where your organization is going in the future.You must make your vision strong and clear so that others are able to see it and there is no confusion.

Once you have created the vision for your team, you must share that vision with the team.They need to be able to ‘see' it.Your vision must be plain so that all can get it, but you must always be honest and fair.People want to know that they are contributing to a larger cause and that their efforts count.

You will also be the person that inspires the team on.You must be positive, full of enthusiasm and have lots of energy.These characteristics will affect the entire team and their willingness to buy into the vision.Having a good team on board with you and working toward your goals is key to success.

Setting Goals
First, your goals must be realistic and reachable.If the bar is too high and can't be reached then why will the team work high to reach it knowing that they never will?You must make the goal high enough that the team must stretch, but it also needs to be attainable.If they can obtain it but they don't think they can, then you need to show them how then can obtain it by inspiring them.

Second, the goals must not only be increasing production, but also better the organization.Structure your goals so that not only is the company improving their bottom line, but the organization is improving also.If the goal is only helping the company, you will have a hard time convincing the employees to go the ‘extra mile' to achieve the goals.

Third, the team must be involved with setting the goals.If you set the goals for them, then when they aren't achieved they can say that they weren't the ones who set the goal.When the employees set the goal, the mentally take ownership of the goal.Now they will work that much harder to achieve the goal because if the goal is not obtained then they failed and not just you as the manager.

Lastly, you must make sure a plan is developed to achieve the goal.The plan must be more than talking about the numbers.You must develop concrete plans on how to increase production.This will be the first step toward reaching your goals.
You now understand the components of team goals.You may also want to see how these are implemented so your organization can maximize their goals.

As the leader you will set the vision.Once you set the vision for the team and inspired them, as a team you set goals.The goals are then broken down into measurable objectives.You will then be able to show progress as you work towards your goals.Each task will then be broken into tasks so that you will have a list of action items to do to accomplish your objectives.

All goals must have an associated timeline.If you set a goal, but no end date, the goal is worthless.The timeline will have a correlation with the tasks.This way you can determine that you are on schedule to meet your goals.If you get behind in the timeline then you need to make changes to attain the goal.

Lastly, you must follow up.Consistent follow up will keep the goals fresh on the teams mind and also help them see the progress.

In summary, team goals must be set by the team while you as the leader determine the vision.The goals must be realistic and obtainable while bettering the team.Lastly, you must make a plan to achieve the goal otherwise you will not change current levels and your goals will fail.