Back to: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team for Leaders
Teams that engage in unfiltered conflict can achieve genuine buy-in around important decisions, even when various members of the team initially disagree. That’s because they ensure that all opinions and ideas are put on the table and considered, giving confidence to team members that no stone has been left unturned.
What influences commitment on a team?
Commitment Clarification Team Best Practices
Step 1: Five minutes before the end of every meeting, the team leader asks, “What exactly have we decided here today?” Then the leader writes on a whiteboard or flipchart every decision the group thinks it has made.
Step 2: Team members review each decision to make sure that it’s what they thought they had agreed on. If not, the group dives back into the conversation until everyone is clear.
Step 3: When everyone agrees that the decisions are clear, everyone writes them down.
Step 4: The team then decides which of the commitments and agreements should be communicated to the rest of the organization.
Thematic Goal
A thematic goal is a single overriding theme that remains the top priority of the entire team for a given period by answering the question, what is most important right now?
Focusing on a thematic goal helps teams avoid departmental politics and “turf” battles – the silos or barriers between departments and work units that cause people who are supposed to be on the same team to work against one another.
Critical Components of a Thematic Goal Defining Objectives
The temporary, qualitative components that clarify what is meant by the thematic goal; shared by all members of the team (and usually varying in number from four to six). Defining objectives provide a level of specificity so the thematic goal isn’t merely a slogan but a specific and understandable call to action.
Standard Operating Objectives
These are the ongoing and relatively straightforward metrics and areas of responsibility that any leadership team must maintain to keep the organization afloat. These objectives do not go away from period to period and often include topics such as revenue, expenses, customer satisfaction, quality, etc.
ACTIVITY: Achieving Commitment
In small groups, practice gaining commitment. Chose a group member as the team leader. The other group members will be members of the team.
You’ve been asked to lead your team to re-commit to the goals, beliefs, and behaviors outlined in the CES Workplace Expectations. How will you get your team to leave the meeting with both greater clarity and buy-in?
Your task is to lead a team meeting that achieves greater clarity and buy-in to one or more of the goals, beliefs, and behaviors outlined in the CES Workplace Expectations.
Steps
- Review the CES Workplace Expectations and choose one page of the Expectations to review with the group.
- Team Leader – Lead a team meeting with the purpose of gaining commitment to one or more of the goals, beliefs, and behaviors outlined in the CES Workplace Expectations.
- Group – Actively participate in the team meeting.
- All – Debrief the meeting, answering these questions:
• Was a thematic goal developed and articulated? If so, what was the thematic goal?
• What leadership strategies seemed to lead to greater clarity?
• What leadership strategies seemed to lead to greater buy-in?
• What, if anything, led to less clarity or buy-in?
• What, if anything, would you (leader and team members) do differently to achieve commitment?
What are the top 3 ways to achieve commitment on your team?