This video speaks for itself.

To learn more about the Knowledge Team Leadership workshops Christopher Avery offers, please go here.

How do you get a team to develop a clear and elevating goal?

By the way, by “clear” I  mean no measurements are needed to know that the goal is reached, and by “elevating” I mean the goal is bold and inspiring.

The truth is, no one knows for sure how to get any team to develop a clear and elevating goal. If we did, we’d be mass-producing winning teams. That said, over the years I’ve witnessed countless teams operating well with clear and elevating goals, I’ve studied the conditions under which such goals came about, and I’ve successfully coached many teams to such heights and taught many leaders how to do it as well.

This is what I’ve learned:

1. A team’s clear and elevating goal is never the goal the leader gives the team

The goal you give a team is your goal, not theirs. To the team it is just an assignment and assignments are not inherently motivating. The fact that your goal moves you does not mean it will — or should — move your team.

This is true in virtually all cases, and understanding this will make you better equipped than 95 percent of leaders.

In the literature on high-performance teamwork, and in my 20-year experience, every time a team is inspired by a clear and elevating goal that goal is one the team itself discovered.

Here’s a real example. A Motorola team I coached was tasked with “ironing out all of the inventory, barcode and delivery issues” involved in supplying computer chips to Ford assembling lines. I don’t know about you, but “ironing” is not inherently motivating to me, and the looks on the team member’s faces told me it wasn’t inspirational to them either.

A few weeks later this team requested time on the leader’s agenda to report progress. Their primary item of business was to report that they had turned the leader’s assignment into a team charter that represented the commitment of every member of the team. As the team leader read the twenty-two word charter, everyone in the room could see that she and her team were completely present and engaged. They were jazzed about this. I got goosebumps then and still feel inspired today when I share the story. Here’s what she read:

The Delivery Team will ensure that Motorola will never allow a Ford assembly line to be shut down anywhere in the world.

Do you think if the team owns that goal, they’ll make significant headway on “ironing out the inventory, barcode, and delivery issues”? You bet they will.

More importantly, do you think any leader gets away with assigning that charter to a team and have them own it like that team? No way.

Here’s my shorthand explanation: I tell teams to turn their assignment (what I often call a “task”) into a goal. How do you know the difference?

A task is what must be done
A goal makes it worth doing

2. There is no recipe or formula you can apply to a team that will result in an elevating goal each time

The best thing a leader can accomplish is to support the team in looking for a clear and elevating goal. If I could bottle that skill and develop it in leaders, I’d be running a skill-building production facility (and you’d be in line!). Crafting a successful approach is a design issue rather than a formulaic process — what you are designing is a set of conditions that encourages team members to explore what they want (rather than what their employers want).

3. There is, however, a set of initial conditions that you can design and influence

While most leaders would kill for teams with clear and elevating goals, what they are more often killing are the conditions that support them! Organizations have a way of systematically extinguishing the wants of team members while simultaneously calling for passion and commitment. We tell people what they should want. We tell them our goals and parameters and then we tell them to get busy and have passion. When I ask people on a client’s team what they want out of this project and this team, more frequently than not I hear, “Gee, no one’s ever asked me that before.”

The leader who understands clear and elevating goals will invest in creating a culture of responsible leadership that acknowledges intrinsic motivations and supports personal freedom and choice. Then he or she will make room in projects for team start-up processes that truly engender ownership within the team.

Learn about point 4 through 6 in the second post in this series (Part 2):

4. Ideally, challenge the team to discover such a goal and invest time in that discovery process

5. It’s always a nonlinear process, a lateral-thinking exercise, and a surprising result

6. Breaking through conflict helps the team’s performance

Want to apply this information right away?

Assess your project environments, leaders, and teams according to these six observations and ask yourself how you can alter the leadership equation so that teams are free to discover what they really want as a team. You will find that giving team members the change to take ownership of their involvement will create a better end result because they are motivated from having their individual voices heard and validated.

To learn more about maximizing teamwork results while empowering the individual team members, attend Knowledge Team Leadership or bring it to your work site.

If I’m open to them, the unexpected rewards on these early rides are endless — and a great reason for getting out of bed so early. Usually these rewards come as wildlife like

• Whitetail or Axis bucks, does, and their fawns
• birds of prey, mostly hawks
• the rare glimpse of a red or silver fox crossing a field
• a flock of wild turkeys
• exotic (not indigenous) species like Blackbuck (an antelope from India, Nepal, and Pakistan) on game-managed ranches

I have even cruised up on sizable rattlesnakes and water moccasins sunning themselves on the road.

7:00 AM, 80ºF, 10 miles out

This morning I spotted a large White Fallow buck standing at the edge of forest with the pending sunrise as a backdrop. The buck and his  family are “pets” on a ranch I pass frequently, though I only see them occasionally. I understand the White Fallow is a large deer from the UK. The antlers are palmate (with a broad central portion) like those of a moose. It is very cool to see.

If you click on the smart phone snapshot I took so it expands to full size, you might be able to spot him right in the center of the photo. If you want to see what a White Fallow buck looks like up close, here are some pictures.

When will smart phones get zoom lenses?

Are you reaping the natural rewards you deserve at work? I can show you how mother nature designed teams to be built and led, and how that produces more wins for you and those around you.

With the advent of lean thinking and agile methods, the old command-and-control structures are giving way to self-directed teams. Uncovering what makes these teams function effectively and what enhances or inhibits  collaboration are questions of growing importance.

Teamwork does not depend on group-bonding or a facilitator’s magic art. Teamwork is actually based on individual skills and attitudes that each team member can learn and master. Great teams are built around a series of conversations that help to define each individual’s role, agreements, and commitments to the team.

Becoming skilled at doing more with others may be the single most important thing you can do to increase your value.

How Does This Apply To Agile Methods?

Agile methods promote self-organizing  teams that require  personal—and team—responsibility. Methods like Scrum and XP advocate and depend on high-degrees of collaboration, yet these high-touch, low-tech methods give us very little guidance on the fundamentals of collaboration. The art and science of  effective teamwork is a set of skills that can and should be developed. Knowledge Team Leadership teaches you these fundamental skills.

Read more about how to develop your Knowledge Team Leadership skills for personal, team, and organizational agility.

90 days AFTER returning to their teams following the October 2008 intensive, I asked participants “How likely is it for you to recommend a friend or colleague to Knowledge Team Leadership?” On a scale of 1 to 10 participants rated it 9.44.

“What would you tell them?”

They said:

- “This class has great content and great presentation. I’ve used the material over and over since the class and it has had a meaningful impact in how I approach team dynamics”

- “The course offers valuable insights into the concept of teamwork and shared responsibility and gives one valuable tools to achieve success in these areas”

- “Lots of good ideas and challenging thoughts condensed into a short time investment”

- “This course focuses on what the individual can do to help create responsible teams. Many other courses concentrate on how to get others to do things. This course recognizes the importance of changing your behavior. Everything in this course can be used throughout your life – work or at home. It can also be a great tools for your kids.”

2009 sessions scheduled already in San Antonio, London, Dallas, Santa Clara, and New York city. Check out the dates.

If you are considering attending, I urge you to claim your spot now. Don’t wait another day.

Yesterday afternoon I drove into San Antonio to check out the venue for the March 4-5, 2009 Knowledge Team Leadership intensive and then to the Alamo PMI (Project Management Institute) chapter meeting as the evening’s guest presenter.

It was a packed house with 209 chapter members in attendance. Chapter President Peter Hottenstein said it blew away reservations and attendance records. That’s great.

How to Build any Team Any Time

I spoke for about an hour and hung around after to chat with a number of friends in the audience. It was fun to mingle with some program managers from USAA which yesterday had announced a whopping $500million return to policy holders and a 13.5% bonus to employees due to operating success in 2008.

I promised to post my presentation slides. I had also hoped to post an MP3 of my talk but I didn’t get it captured. Apologies for that.

Comments in my email this morning

We met at the PMI meeting tonight. I really enjoyed your presentation and plan to put your ideas into practice immediately.

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I really enjoyed your presentation at the Alamo PMI membership meeting.  I believe the concepts you taught are going to help me break through the plateau I’ve been sitting on for the past several years.  I’m looking forward to beginning my day with new ideas and practical exercises I can apply to myself to build teamwork

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I really enjoyed your presentation last evening and I thank you for the fantastic information you shared with us!

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Chris, I saw you last night at the Alamo PMI event. The subject matter was really thought provoking and valuable. I look forward to getting the information from your site and applying it in my new job and personal relationships.

Thanks Alamo PMI

Alamo PMI I appreciate your invitation, your excellent administration and organization leading up to the event, and your wonderful hospitality. Let’s do it again. Okay?

I’ll be talking about How to Build Any Team Any Time: 6 Team Leadership Skills for High Performance and Low Stress at Work. Of course there will be fun and shenanigans too.

If you are in SA and want to go, better make your reservations now.

The good folks at Agile University yesterday published my team building commentary titled: How to Frustrate, Thwart, and Ultimately Bring Down Any Team in 4 Easy Steps Without Even Trying. Click the AU link above to read it, or read it below, after the video window.

Or, just watch this video…

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How to Frustrate, Thwart, and Ultimately Bring Down Any Team in 4 Easy Steps Without Even Trying

By Christopher Avery

Everyone says they want to be on a winning team. And nobody ever says they want to be on a lousy team. So how come we get the frustrating teams much of the time?

Here are the steps you can take to make sure that your teams remain the worst, most frustrating experiences ever. Master each of these 4 steps and then be sure to pass them to others so they too can bring all their teams down.

P.S. These steps are especially important if you want to bring agile practices to a standstill…

Step 1: Assume someone else is responsible for team building

Never, under any circumstance, should you allow yourself to feel a sense of ownership for the quality and productivity of the whole team, collaboration, partnership, or relationship. By all means, let someone else do that, preferably someone you can despise for not having as much technical competence as you. Also, assume team building is so much black magic instead of a skill set composed of straight-forward repeatable conversations anyone can bring to any relationship any time. Repeat after me: “I specialize in ‘hard’ skills.”

Why? Someone – anyone – regardless of their role in the team, who cares about the productivity of the team will make a huge difference in putting into motion the conversations and ideas that build the team. But when no one does, then it’s completely up to chance whether the team develops effective dynamics.

Consider this: 15 years ago I had the opportunity to interview dozens of science and engineering staff in a couple of large failed programs. Everyone was a “top 10%” graduate from a “top 10″ university, the crème de’ le’ crème. When asked “To what do you owe your participation in this failed program?” the #1 response was “I got put on a bad team.”

Memorize that line so you can repeat it in your next review, or even earlier, maybe tomorrow.

Step 2: Resist attending to anything other than the most narrow description of your role accountability

Whatever you do, refuse all invitations to meetings, orientations, or informal gatherings where the team’s overall mission might be discussed. If you do, you might get sucked into caring. And if you actually cared, then you might feel a sense of ownership, and next thing you know you’ll be sub-optimizing for your own role and optimizing for the whole.

Why? The #1 point of leverage for team building and team leadership is to talk together about the larger goal. I call it the what-we-must-do-together-that-is-bigger-than-any-of-us,-requires-all-of-us,-and-none-of-us-can-claim-individual-victory-until-it-is-achieved conversation.

Step 3: Care less whether others on the team and extended teams are winning or losing

By all means, whatever you do, maintain a constant vigil of nonchalance about how what you do affects others on the team or beyond. This is relatively easy to master. Besides repeating the mantra “I don’t care” you can also:

1. Assume the only way to motivate anyone is with the carrots and sticks of management, which peers on teams don’t have available, thus you can’t affect other’s commitment.
2. Never ever ask “What’s in it for you-beyond a paycheck-to work on this project?” That way, you can continue to not care, and you also don’t have to know whether you are stepping on someone’s win.
3. Also never own up to having any inspiration at all about why you come to work other than for continued employment and a paycheck. That way you can maintain low interest and commitment to most things.
4. Finally, assume that other people and departments should do what you think they should do because you all get a paycheck from the same company.

Why? Most people say they want to be on a winning team. That means actually practicing win/win/win at every level and juncture which requires some caring, knowledge and effort. And that means understanding how peer motivation works (you can understand it if you want to) and committing to generate as many wins as possible out of every decision and action.

Step 4: Make only agreements you must in order to get others to leave you alone. Don’t worry about keeping them.

Since there is a fuzzy authority system in teams, collaborations, and partnerships, feel free to say and do anything you can to get people to leave you alone. That usually means resisting opting in and engaging until they twist your arm, and then saying whatever you must in order to end the pain and move on. Making agreements you never intend to keep is a great way to ensure continual frustration and failure.

Why? Teams, collaborations, and partnerships operate on a different frequency than the hierarchical functions of an organization. Where authority structures create the fabric of the institution, making and keeping agreements of all types, from operating rules to delivering work, creates the fabric of the team.

All kidding aside…

In sum, to make sure you continue to be frustrated your entire career by being on lousy, low-performing teams, then whatever you do, please don’t register for or attend Knowledge Team Leadership: The Art & Science of Being Amazingly Effective in Any Team, October 21-22, in Boulder, CO. If you do, Christopher might show you how learning to get more done with others may be the single greatest thing you can do to boost your career. P.S. Seating is limited and should fill soon. Hurry.

* Christopher Avery, Ph.D. wrote the popular book Teamwork Is An Individual Skill: Getting Your work Done when Sharing Responsibility (which Fortune Magazine claimed is the only teamwork book worth reading), co-founded the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN), and is the developer and Agile University trainer for Knowledge Team Leadership: The Art and Science of Being Amazingly Effective in Any Team. More information at Agile University or at Knowledge Team Leadership.

© Copyright 2008, Partnerwerks Inc. Permission granted to re-publish only in its entirety including the “about” paragraph and copyright statement.

P.S. Yes, you may republish this in your online or offline media. If you want to alter anything, just ask first.

In this hour-long show I shared some of the most important truths I’ve learned in 17 years of studying and teaching team leadership communication skills for team building. These included busting a bunch of team building myths that are still prevalent in our society and businesses, and spilling the beans about the top four thinks I would do to build any team any time.

I also previewed the upcoming Knowledge Team Leadership intensive I’ll be leading in in Boulder, CO, October 21-22, and I answered a number of questions I’ve been asked about that session.

Promised Show Notes

I promised to post my notes from the show for you to download. Here they are:

Christopher’s PDF of show notes

And I suggest you download this one-pager of 3 case studies of client results for clients using Knowledge Team Leadership:

KTL Case Studies of client results

What about the bonuses?

I just got off the phone with someone asking about the promised bonuses. Here they are…

Each person who registers at my site (and my site only) by August 29 will receive a private 20-minute coaching session with me:

• in-person during the workshop or on the phone before or after
• recorded (if on the phone) for you to re-listen later
• valued at $300+

Additionally, when 3 or more people on the same team register my site (and my site only) and attend together, their entire team (even if more than the 3 participants) will receive a 1-hour coaching session with me:

• before, during (if time allows) or after the workshop
• recorded (if on the phone) for you to re-listen later
• valued at $1700+

Note: What’s the big deal about registering at “my site?” There are other sites where you could register. I’m not opposed to you doing that, but my bonus offer is only for those registering at www.KnowledgeTeamLeadership.com. It’s intended to be a benefit to readers of my Responsibility eTips and blog. You too can sign up for Responsibility eTips at the top of this page and get first notice of information and opportunities I’m involved with.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

I’m honored to be giving the closing keynote on personal agility and Responsibility Redefined™. At APLN Atlanta Leadership Summit you’ll also find sessions by some inspiring agile practitioners including one of my favorites, David Hussman of DevJam (although I’ll miss David’s session as I’ll be flying back from the UK where I’m giving two other keynotes that same week—I ought to be warmed up at least!).

The APLN exists to develop and support great project leaders according to the values of the Declaration of Interdependence (DOI). I co-authored the DOI and co-founded APLN and served as a director for 2 years.

This will be a great Summit. See you there.