Does Your Team Really Know What You Want?

Stephen Covey shared a lot of smart ideas when he wrote “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I must have read that book at least five times when it first came out. One of the habits that has really stuck with me is, “Begin with the end in mind.” Turns out that’s not just great advice for personal effectiveness; it’s also a great idea for team effectiveness.

In working with hundreds of senior executives over the years, I’ve concluded that the most effective are those who are very clear with their teams about the outcomes that need to be achieved. When any new initiative begins, they stop and have a conversation with their team about what a successful outcome looks like and then reverse engineer back from that picture to help the team visualize what it’s going to take to stay on track with the goal.

In this video coaching segment from “The Next Level,” I offer three simple, practical and road-tested ideas for how you can keep your team on track by being clear about desired outcomes.

Don’t forget to read the first three posts in this series.

• How to Get Your Leadership Resolutions Back on Track
• Is Being the “Go-To” Person Holding You Back?
• 3 Tips for Pacing Your Work for Lasting Success

Want more information? Take the free leadership self-assessment, which takes about five minutes and gives you a picture of how you stack up on three key components of leadership presence: personal, team and organizational.