As a leader or a manager, it is your job to create an environment where everyone can meet their potential. Furthermore, it is your job to keep the team heading in the right direction. Just setting goals is not enough to actually achieve them.
With this in mind, one of the best solutions is to find a good OKR goal management software to automate the process. The OKR methodology for goal setting and tracking makes it easier to deliver real results as a team by focusing on what really matters.
Weekdone can help you do achieve this within your company.
On the basis of our customer case studies and different successful leadership methodologies, we‘ve compiled 7 steps which will guarantee your successful outcome as a team.
Choose a suitable medium for you! Download the 7 step guide as you prefer: a slideshow, or infographic. Or simply read the breakdown in this article.
Downloads: 7 Step Guide to Deliver Results as a Team
7 Step Guide For a Leader to Deliver Results as a Team
Step #1: Big Picture and Goals
It is absolutely vital that everyone on your team understands the bigger picture. This is especially true when examining their role of reaching their Objective. People with goals tend to achieve 10 times as much as people with no goals at all.
It’s ideal to set a company goal with measurable metrics. Then, you should find a singular location (such as a dashboard) or some communal workspace to share this with everyone in the company. From there, you’ll align the company goal with each team. Even the act of writing down a goal increases the odds of achieving it, helping you to really deliver results.
The best way to evaluate your big picture goals is to connect them with your larger projects (output) you know will make a business impact. This way, you can easily track and keep everything connected from vision to execution. Though starting out with spreadsheets or emails is alright for getting started, consider switching to a goal management software as soon as possible for the sake of transparency.
Step #2: Assign Tasks According to Each Team Member’s Strengths
In order for your team members to be happy and productive, it is essential to play to their strengths. According to a Gallup survey, employees are 61% more engaged if their managers focuses on their strengths. In addition, people feel better doing tasks that they are good at and, most importantly, they perform better. Make sure you know your team’s strengths and give tasks accordingly.
Step #3: Sharing and Delivering Results
Teams achieve better chemistry and results if there is a dashboard or forum to share ideas. We urge leaders to implement a suitable brainstorming format to generate ideas within your team. There are many different formats out there to choose from.
Consider using this free OKR drafting template to help prioritize your activities in order to make the most impact toward achieving goals.
The benefits of brainstorming and sharing ideas are essentially getting ideas, solving problems, and overall, being better as a team. Furthermore, brainstorming serves as a good “idea bank” where everyone can contribute. For example, this “idea bank’s” results may lead to process innovation, operations, and product innovation.
Though these brainstorming and “idea bank” methods are typically reserved for meetings, sharing results does not have to be confined to face-to-face meetings only. Using a status reporting tool that focuses on connecting OKRs to projects cuts the time spend in meetings to only what is absolutely necessary. Because of this, using a good OKR performance management software like Weekdone makes sharing results easier through a cloud-based dashboard.
Step #4: Increase Engagement by Implementing Methodologies
One of the key parts of achieving your goals is repetition with a system that helps to keep the work process going. In the beginning, I already emphasized the importance of goals and that the best methodology for that is Objectives and Key Results – OKRs. OKRs are used by the likes of Google, LinkedIN, and Zynga.
Using a goal setting and tracking method helps people to start moving towards important goals, not small unimportant tasks. On the other hand, employees love it for the clarity of knowing what’s expected from them.
I also urge you to try out the Problems, Plans and Progress – PPP methodology. It is used by companies like Skype and it helps to enhance team collaboration and keep everyone informed. It also clarifies what needs to be done in order to achieve a certain goal.
Step #5: Constantly Improve the Work Process
Using weekly check-in methodology helps to bring out the flaws and problems of your team’s work process. In order to achieve the results as efficiently as possible, it is critical to make continuous improvements in your workflow. As a leader, it is recommended to check in regularly to see how everybody is doing and if they need a push to get them over a hump. This can be done in an online status update format or just by talking to your team members individually.
Improving the work process can also mean introducing new tools.
Step #6: Encourage and Motivate
All methodologies and goal setting techniques are tools to help your team achieve better results, but we have to remember that we are dealing with humans. People are emotional beings and by setting goals and giving tasks according to their strengths increases the odds of success, but it does not mean that you should not motivate them. The best times to encourage and motivate your team is at the beginning and the final part of the process.
People tend to get stuck and in order for them to finish their task, it is recommended to reinforce the fact that they are moving in the right direction. They should also be informed that they are a vital part of the outcome.
Step #7 Deliver Results with Feedback and Recognition
On the last step, I started to touch on the emotional side of delivering results. There is still one last thing leaders should not forget. Give your team members feedback and recognition. These two elements are known to motivate people more than money.
In addition, regular feedback makes everyone twice as happy and makes sure they are engaged.
To conclude, setting and sharing goals with your team is a good starting point to make sure you deliver results. Make sure you have implemented the suitable work process for your team and urge everybody to make improvements. As a leader, you can provide the necessary tools, but in the end, it is the team that delivers the results.
So, make sure you motivate them by giving feedback and encouraging them if needed. Following these 7 steps should guarantee a successful outcome. Be the best leader you can be and share this knowledge with your team right now.
Infographic on How to Deliver Results
