Winning Early Contests Bolsters Development of a High-Performing Squad
Victory in the early stages can significantly boost a team's confidence. These victories are often small achievements that can be delivered swiftly, contrasting with larger victories that take more time. The general advice is to pour additional resources into these early victories to expedite their arrival and pave the way for subsequent victories. The cornerstone of this strategy is disciplined delegation.
Early victories serve as fundamental blocks for Tactical Capacity, contributing to expedited executive onboarding and the development of high-performing teams. Each block carries a pivotal element. It's crucial to establish all blocks and focus on their key components:
- Fiery Imperative: A mutual, shared objective
- Milestone Management: A systematic, adaptive learning strategy
- Early Victories: Disciplined delegation
- Role Allocation: Maximizing complementary strengths
- Communication: Ongoing, two-way communication
The essence of early victories lies in disciplined delegation, possibly accompanied by a team charter that spells out:
- Inspiring Direction: Goals, desired results, context, intentions - what and why
- Empowering Resources: Financial aid, information, technical or operational assistance, workforce, time
- Autonomous Authority: Authorization to make mission-tactical choices within strategic and operational confines
- Transparent Accountability: Measurable standards, time expectations, repercussions of success and failure
Team Charters: A Closer Look
Description and Scope
This summary provides a brief overview of the work's purpose, objectives, guidelines, and interdependencies between various tasks, allowing team members to easily understand how their work connects with others.
Goals and Desired Results
Charge the team with delivering Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) results, focusing on concrete objectives, measurable progress, attainable goals, relevance to the overall mission, and time-bound milestones.
Context and Intent
Share pertinent information regarding the organization's purpose, goals, strategies, values, and how the task aligns, ensuring everyone is motivated and understand the significance of their efforts.
Approach
Identify the human, financial, technical, and operational resources necessary, so the team can efficiently undertake and accomplish their responsibilities. Clearly communicate supporting teams, dependencies, and parallel efforts to help the team collaborate effectively.
[1] Adapted from "The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan" by George G. Bradt and Michael D. Watkins[4] Derived from "The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team" by Patrick Lencioni, John C. Maxwell, and Marshall Goldsmith
- To expedite the arrival of early victories and boost the team's confidence, resources should be poured into these small achievements, leveraging disciplined delegation as a cornerstone strategy.
- Early victories play a pivotal role in enhancing a team's tactical capacity, facilitating efficient executive onboarding and the development of high-performing teams.
- Disciplined delegation, a key element of early victories, requires a team charter that outlines inspiring direction, empowering resources, autonomous authority, and transparent accountability.
- The team charter sets clear expectations, defining specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) results, ensuring all team members understand their roles and responsibilities.
- The charter also shares context and intent, articulating the organization's purpose, goals, strategies, and values, making it apparent how the task aligns with the overall mission.
- Approving the team charter ensures that all necessary resources, including human, financial, technical, and operational, are allocated effectively, enabling the team to collaborate efficiently and accomplish their objectives.
- Accountability is vital in the team charter, establishing measurable standards, time expectations, and repercussions of success or failure, ensuring everyone is held responsible for delivering early wins and contributing to the high-performing team's effectiveness.
