The Laban Johnson Group

Two types of goals: Your commited pursuit of both will help you better achieve both goals and round out your life.

Common Goals: Those that link people together as a team, creating interdependency.

Diverse Goals: Those goals in business or persona life that may or may not fit within a team common goal, but, ideally, they help establish a balance and perspective in life.

SETTING EFFECTIVE GOALS

1. Seat Realistic, Challenging Goals - goals should stretch you - strech and not leap.

2. Write Down the Goals - writing down a goal is the first step to action. The written words remind you of why - why change your habits, etc. When you write the team goal it does the same thing but it applies to an interdependent group of people. The written goal gives people on the team a why, helps keep their eyes on the same end point. It''s a visible cue about where everyone is headed, so it helps energies stay mission-focused.
In constructing a team goal, have the team address three issues:

The underlying reason for being together : What is your mission statement? The mission statement is more than an outbound message that looks good on press releases and fills space on your company Web site. It is an internal message that your team embraces.

The primary result that everyone wants to accomplish - Be clear that you have this in common, and if you don''t, be clear about that, too.

How will you do it? Look at your Warning Order and your Operations Order. Is the path to success well marked in terms of direction and distance? Do you have a sound plan? Are you aware of potential dangers or MODD?

3. Question Yourself - After looking at each goal in writing as yourself:

• Does this goal fit the mission?
• Is this clearly a part of what I want to achieve?
• Where are the conflicts with the goal? Where am I going to have trouble? To work toward collaboration in all areas of conflict, you need to specify what those areas of conflict migt be. Identify the obstacles in the way, the known danger areas - MODDs.
• Is this goal SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Based)
  
• Specific: Don''t just say "I want to be a better leader". Define specifically how you plan to improve as a leader or be a more valuable team member
• Measurable: Can you track your progress along the way?
• Attainable - Do I have th set of tools in my toolbox to achieve this goal?
• Realistic - Think of the "Stretch, don''t leap" advice
• Time-based - Do you have a no-later-than time to shoot for?

4. Determine the Measurable Action Steps to Attain the Goal - Give yoruself 8 to 10 steps along the way toward the goal. Use them as rally points, so that if you confront a MODD on the way to the next step you can BRAD (Backup, Regroup, Assess the situation, and Drive on). O

5. Visualize Yourself Obtaining the Goal - This exercise fuels a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bring your entire body into it: What does achieving this goal feel like? What does it look like or sound like? What will be different about your life when you accomplish the goal? Define success in relation to this goal and visualize yourself in success.

KEY TECHNIQUES FOR TEAM ENCOURAGEMENT:

Celebrate Small Victories along the Way:

At every checkpoint integrate reminders to your team that they''ve made progress. A simple "thanks" will go a long way. Take the time to write a memo to the employee''s file explaining how she contributed to achieving the goal. Sit down and have a cup of coffee with your team members. Celebrating doesn''t have to cost a lot, but it does carry of a lot of value.

Give New Ideas Air

Fresh thinking can be especially useful when the obstacle is higher than anyone had anticipated, as well as after a mistake has been made and the team is in BRAD mode. Refrain from criticizing an idea as illogical; the value may be in the fact that everyone commits to it. A little creative thinking can make the difference between success and failure in the mission.

Provide Incentives That Wake People Up

An innovative incentive can help someone who''s crashing find the motivation to dig down deep and reconnect with the team''s effort to drive forward.

Train, Rehease, and Coach to Keep Competence and Confidence High

Automatically delegating certaint asks to the most competent person doesn''t necessarily take the long-term goals of the organization into consideration. If you have an employee who is eager to help on a project but lacking some skills, and you instead rely on someone who is skilled and reliable "known quantity" , it is a sign of shortsightedness. That expedient route to getting the job done means you aren''t grooming anyone for the future, and you may be dampening the morale of other people you need to achieve the goals. It also means that you are ignoring raw talent - alienating an employee who is potentially more valuable - as well as burning out someone who already has a lot to do, and perhaps driving them away or eroding their ability to do their primary job. This is the mentality of someone who focuses on the next quarter, or tangible results today, to the exclusion of the big picture. Do you want to win the battle, or the war?

Even the best people in your company will feel more energized about achieving the established goal if they have good training, time to rehease certain skills and drills, and coaching from an experience mentor. By providing those things, you also help close the gaps in their knowledge. Don''t tke the value of this schooling for granted.

Training is not a human resource function, it is an operational function. Training helps people develop the skill sets to get the job done, and those skill sets include not only technical skills but also practical skills in leadership, teamwork, and communication.

To summarize the key techniques to encourage your team:

1. Celebrate small victories along the way
2. Give new ideas fresh air
3. Provide incentives that wake people up
4. Train, rehease, and coach to keep competence and confidence high

Timing of feedback - Say "thank you" immediately, coach someone when she''s struggling, and so on.

Consistency - If you welcome new ideas one day and ignore them the next five, you''re confusing the team instead of encouraging them.

Focus on the goal - use these techniques to keep your team''s eyes on the goal. And when they''ve reached taht summit, left them enjoy the triumph!

You won''t always achieve all yoru goals. When that happens, don''t take it personally, just take it to heart and B.R.A.D.!

 Excerpt from the book "Rangers Lead the Way: The Army Rangers'' Guide to leading Your Organization Through Chaos" by Dean Hohl & Maryann Karinch