 Instilling team direction and consistently keeping team members pointed in the same direction is a lot harder than most managers anticipate. Choosing a direction and communicating that direction is done by most managers. The problem is work life is so busy and there are so many immediate priorities and demands on everyone that most team members forget about the longer term team direction. If direction is out of mind then it is out of the decision making process happening each day, week and month. When team direction no longer influences most people's decision making then having a team direction becomes nearly worthless. So much research shows that having common direction and consistently using that common direction in everyday decision making throughout the team has a big impact on team performance, typically a 20% plus uplift in team performance. An improved team performance as an output makes sense as everyone's efforts are complementary rather than some being complementary and some being conflicting. Authors Robert Kaplan and David Norton reported a mere 7% of employees today fully understand their company's business strategies and what is expected of them in order to help achieve company goals. That is a scarily poor statistic and I feel from my experience that this reflects too many teams. In another study by PMI, 61% of employees think that their firm often struggles to bridge the gap between strategy formulation and the day-to-day implementation. These stats highlight the huge gap in the ability of the majority of managers to maintain their team moving in an agreed team direction. I'm sharing six actions for successfully instilling team direction and keeping that direction front of mind. These steps to successfully communicate team direction and then keep the team focused on the team direction should be a top priority for any manager who wants to improve team performance. My name is Jess Coles and if you're new here in HeartStalk Training Shares people management expertise, resources and courses for you to manage your team with integrity and fairness and get outstanding results. I've included links to additional videos and resources in the description below as well as a video timestamp so do take a look at these. And if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe. Let's talk instilling team direction. Too many managers just tell their teams the goals they have been given by their managers and expect their team to understand and own these goals. Don't be an average manager. Involving the team in setting direction is the first action for a successfully instilling team direction. When you set goals that are your goals and direction they are important to you. When the team owns the direction and goals they are important to everyone. Most managers don't have the luxury of setting company direction or even functional direction so why bother involving the team in setting direction is a common question asked. Worst case, even if your manager tells you that the team goals, you can still get the team involved in planning how the team is going to reach those goals. Your involvement, input and debate all increase the sense of ownership. I've found that asking the team to redefine the goals in their terms, define how we measure our progress and what activities and projects we're going to employ to get to these goals are all very effective in instilling team direction. This works well even within the constraints of say being a junior manager in a large corporate. Get your team thinking about and inputting into your team direction so they remember, understand and own the direction as much as possible. Addressing challenges and overcoming resistance is the second action for successfully instilling team direction. If you members have different experience, backgrounds, ideas, reference points and opinions, you are going to have disagreements and resistance. Don't ignore or ride rough shot over these differences. In my experience the differences are what makes a team great in providing you harness these differences well. Get the team listening to the differences, understanding the differences and considering the differences. Being able to debate and input is usually the important part of bringing in those with opposing views along with the group. Even if you discard ideas and views, the fact that the team has seriously considered them is usually enough for the person disagreeing to take ownership of the final position the group as a whole takes. This process is great for building confidence in team direction. And finally you may need to persuade or agree to disagree with individuals. If you as a group have listened and considered having a stubborn disagreement is unusual. Aim to facilitate getting other views into the open before putting your own ideas and views forward as a manager or leader. You get more honesty within the group with this approach. Address challenges and overcome resistance before finalizing the team direction. Explain the why is the third action for successfully instilling team direction. Explain why the team direction is important and how it links into the company's goals. This provides purpose and increases the value of the team direction in the eyes of each team member. And make sure you understand the why. I've had to have several long discussions with my manager in the past before being clear myself on why functional goals were important. Only then was I happy to discuss direction with the team. When you are clear on the why you'll be a lot more confident explaining the why to the team. Your confidence in the why matters to the team. Explain the why in the team's language. You link each individual role within the team to the team's direction. Don't assume that team members will make the link themselves. Spell it out clearly to them. Then take as many questions as you need to ensure everyone is clear on the why. Communicate direction in different formats is the fourth action for successfully instilling team direction. You know a common mistake many managers make is explaining the team direction in a team meeting with a few powerpoint slides and then assuming everyone understands the direction and will remember it. Please don't make this mistake. Tell people in one-on-one meetings. Tell people in team meetings. Write the team direction and goals on the wall for all to see. Send emails around. Hold question and answer sessions. Hold quizzes about the team direction. Emify the team direction with activities and prizes. There are so many ways to reinforce the team direction. Keep talking about the team direction and answering questions until everyone is clear what the direction is and why the direction and goals have been chosen. Make learning about the team direction fun and memorable. Reinforce goal alignment throughout the team is the fifth action for successfully instilling team direction. Learning alignment with the team direction is the tough part. The team direction shouldn't be set in stone. The team direction should also not change quickly or easily otherwise it loses credibility as a longer term reference point to head towards. Try to align as much as you can with the team direction. In more obvious things like sub-team and individual goals and objectives should clearly align with the team direction. Other areas to remain conscious of and align are. Firstly, your decisions from the day to day to those with longer term impacts. Secondly, your actions, particularly what activities and projects you prioritize for the team and what you delegate. Third, your outward behavior should align with the team direction. Your examples are maintaining positivity and energy behind the direction and goals. And fourth, what you talk about and pay attention to, i.e. spend more time on areas aligned to team direction and goals and less time elsewhere. What you do is a lot more important than what you say. You are in the spotlight and your actions, decisions and behaviors are critical reference points for the team and what they are going to focus their time and energy on. Reinforce goal alignment wherever you can and do this as consistently as possible. Repeat direction until the team jokes about you is the sixth action for successfully instilling team direction. I attended a talk from a founder of a footsie listed company and he said his main purpose was to agree company direction and keep talking about it until his team was bored of hearing about it and started telling jokes about him because he was constantly talking about direction all the time. My experience mirrors this sentiment. Everyone is so busy at work and pulled in so many directions if the team leader doesn't champion the team direction no one else is going to. If no one is constantly reminding the team the direction gets forgotten and the team performance drops as the greater alignment of effort and drive is lost. I think one of the most important jobs of any leader of a team is to agree direction and begin consistently communicating team direction to keep their team pointing towards that direction. It can be a very thankless task I know yet it remains extremely important. Keep bringing it up the team direction. Remind people in team meetings. Regularly check alignment of team members goals to team direction. Create tracking and visibility of progress towards team's goals. Gamify the process. Keep reminding the team to align their decisions and activities. Don't remind the team every once in a while or for a few weeks keep going at it all year be that broken record. The constant repetition keeps the team direction front of mind and I don't know a better way for successfully instilling team direction. Keep repeating the team direction until your team starts telling jokes about it. Then you know they won't forget about it. So in summary successfully instilling team direction and keeping the team focused on that direction is an extremely important outcome for any manager. Many managers are good at setting direction yet few managers are good at successfully instilling team direction and building belief in team direction. Take the actions outlined to successfully instill team direction and keep the team focused on aligning their decisions and actions with team direction. This is massive in terms of improving team performance. The sixth actions for successfully instilling team direction in my view are firstly involve the team in setting direction secondly address challenges and overcome resistance third explain the why fourth communicate direction in different formats fifth reinforce goal alignment throughout the team and then sixth repeat direction until the team jokes about you. And if you have any questions please leave them in the comment section below please don't forget to look at the additional videos and resources in the description below as well. Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.