Big, intimidating project or goal?

Find a natural starting point, and begin, one step at a time. Then take the next one.

Let the project tell you what’s next, if that makes sense.

A plan is grand, of course, and a great one gives you the lay of the land.

But sometimes there are things you can only know after having started the journey. It is then that you see or know what’s next. It is only then that you know what actions you must take that you couldn’t have seen through a wide-angle lens, no matter how well you tried to anticipate what lay ahead.

Leading a team that largely thinks the job can’t be done (wow, do I know that feeling)? You just have to play it through. Sometimes leadership feels like firewalking, or a high wire act (I know these feelings, too).

Demonstrate through your confidence, action, and step-by-step leadership and results that the way IS forward, yes.

The only way to deal with barriers is to find ways over, around, under, or through them. (Or you may just have to set them aside, if they are perceived, but not real. That sounds easy, but it’s not. Force of fear, will or habit may have cemented perceived barriers firmly in place. Your task is to keep them off the path, to keep the crew moving through, paying attention to step by step progress, not these barriers that may have given them comfort in the past, in some indefinable way).

Standing there wringing hands?

You’ll quickly be overwhelmed, subsumed.

Begin.

Take the first step. Begin at the beginning.

Then take the next one.

Step by step. Keep moving to, then through.

It’s amazing how many team disagreements can be prevented right from the start if everyone is clear about their joint goal, roles, and ground rules – the ways they can communicate and work together best.

Sounds simple enough, right?

It’s not.

Spelling out these success-makers can keep them from becoming success-breakers. Areas of significant difference need to be discussed and common ground defined, and then these agreements need to be well-managed during the full time the team works together.

Remember that a team can be large, or it can be small. Using a non-business example, a team can be two roommates. They need to spell out what they see as a successful relationship, what they expect their roles to be, and what ground rules will work for both (or all of them, if there are more than two on this team).

The consequences if these things are not worked out and periodically reviewed and reset, as need be? The negative results can be extreme. Consider these, alone (there are more):

- Failure to achieve the goal
- Increased time or cost to achieve the goal
- Infighting and unnecessary (and unproductive) tension on the team
- Negative health impacts for the participants from stress
- Missed opportunities to achieve other personal and team goals
- Missed signals that there are problems in other parts of the organization

Here are a few thoughts on guiding the important discussion of goals, roles, and rules.

1. How will you know when you are “there”?

At a minimum, create a clear, simple focusing statement to keep the team focused and on track.

Better yet, add details that describe specifically how you’ll recognize when you have arrived at the goal. When you compare notes with others on the team, you may be surprised to find that their picture of success is different, in large or small ways.

Take the time to work out differences so your aim is the same when you’re working independently and together on behalf of the goal.

2. What roles does everyone have?

Using the example of roommates, again, if you were choosing a new one, would you want a “best friend” relationship where you two spent much time together?

Or is the role of “roommate” a low involvement relationship for you, one in which you simply share rent and utilities, with an occasional catch-up-on-life meal together?

Whether roommate, or teammate, one label can mean very different things to different people.

3. How can you work and communicate best?

If you’re part of a business team, does your group work and communicate best through daily team meetings? Or does it work better to meet a few times a month in longer working sessions, supplemented by regular update e-mails and reports?

Most groups need a combination of group and one-on-one meetings, supplemented by quick check-ins, and written updates to ensure that they’re traveling well, separately and together, as they move down the road toward the goal.

Take the time you and your team need to define what will work best for you. Then keep the agreement, and let it work. Periodically review it, and refresh or renew commitment to your common goal, roles and rules.