Fostering team engagement begins by creating a clear direction.
Looking ahead and preparing for the future is essential in the face of recent challenges.
A crucial aspect of this preparation is prioritising your team and providing them with a sense of purpose to guide them.
If you lead or are part of a team, and experience team disengagement or, even worse, a feeling that you and the team have accepted mediocrity consider how are you communicating with each other.
A lack of clear direction or purpose often lies at the heart of team disengagement. Many individuals within organisations find themselves unsure of their responsibilities or have a lack of understanding of the reasons behind their work and role.
Here's what I mean:
Imagine arriving at the Tullamarine (Melbourne) Airport, collecting your luggage, and joining the taxi or Uber queue. When you enter the vehicle, the driver asks, "Where to?"
Now, if your response is, "I don't want to go to Geelong, St Kilda, or Dandenong," how can the driver work out where you do want to go?
As a leader, your ability to create a clear sense of purpose and direction for your team is vital for their growth and success.
Even if you believe the direction and purpose are obvious, acting upon feedback suggesting otherwise is crucial. Effective communication is key in these circumstances, and it is better to over-communicate than assume that the understanding of what you want say is clear.
Effective communication involves more than expressing your thoughts—it's about ensuring that others understand your message.
True understanding relies on how well others understand what you say.
Ask yourself
- Do you clearly understand your purpose and that of your team, and have you explained it?
- Have you checked that the team understands what their purpose is?
Everyone needs to understand the direction they are going so they can plan how to get there.
You can achieve unrivalled success with your team by focusing on how you are communicating.
I'd love to hear how you create a clear direction for your team. Drop me a line and let me know. Or if you are part of a team, how has your boss clarified the purpose of what you are there to achieve?
Click here to download the 8 Ingredients for Clear Instructions so that you can communicate even more effectively.