As the leader, your actions, words, moral compass, abilities, planning, and skills have great impact on how your team functions not only on every daily duties, but also for the long term growth and life of your organization. If you abuse your team members, they will start to change their habits to only minimize the abuse and not to grow the business.
Commitment is about building a team that is dedicated to the culture, the goals and the strategy of the organization. Further, that commitment will create a passion for winning and excellence. A team committed to the organization takes ownership in doing great things everyday with each person holding the others accountable.
Here are a few areas that leaders should focus on to create more commitment within the team:
- Clear guidance and direction. Nothing will frustrate your team more than to not know what you really want done and how you want it done. What are the goals and timeline of the projects? What does success look like? What is the order of magnitude for analysis? Communicate early and often to your team on what is expected. I recommend that you conduct in-progress reviews individually with project managers to cover any topics. Public reviews will only reveal limited information.
- Prioritize the work. Is your team working randomly on projects without knowing what is important? Prioritize the work that fits the strategy and goals of the business. Ensure you are protecting the team from everything else that is trying to influence them.
- Team members must own the projects. Team members who own the project will become more committed. Check, but down micromanage. Show support in public to the owner by letting them make the decisions. Additionally, each team member should be holding others accountable for accomplishing the tasks, goals and the strategy.
- Uphold ethics. Don’t cut corners on doing something proper and ethical. The numbers are what they are, and you need to live with them once the business period is complete. If the analysis results in bad news, then don’t alter it. Make sure the proper story is being told. How you receive bad news will influence how your team shares and shapes the results for you.
- Develop. Schedule your team for professional courses to develop them for additional responsibility. Don’t be afraid to lose them in the future to other organizations. It is worth the risk to invest in them now. I have seen too many times when serving in the Army that senior officers would not allow their subordinate officers to attend development courses because of some short term task that needed to be done. There are always short term tasks. The greater goal is to prepare your team for the future so that they can assume more responsibility.
- Praise. Recognize your team members in public often. Remember to praise in public and to reprimand in private.
As a leader, you have the great responsibility to guide the team to a desired state in the future. Your team members will act and react based on your words and actions, even the most subtle ones. Ensure your communication is clear and specific. Your team needs to trust that you support them and that you will uphold what you have said you will do.
“When you’re surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.” -Howard Schultz
You can start today by keeping your word, prioritizing the work, and giving clear guidance. You can definitely alter the culture of your team to win.
How is commitment built and established in your organization? Please comment or send an email to comment@stephenmclain.com
Copyright 2016-Stephen McLain