It starts with your collective team including outsourced resources.
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” Andrew Carnegie
Who Makes Up Your team?
As you start planning for 2024, evaluating inward and outward resources is essential. Who makes up your key team members? Which roles are handled from inside your department, inside your company, and outside through your vendor team?
Today, many of our clients manage departments of varying sizes. Some have large contingents of personnel representing creative design, data analytics, content marketing, web admins, email/digital specialists, and more.
Inside and Outside Teams
Successful organizations often rely on an even number of inside and outside resources to get things done. In fact, the best departments will expand their external teams to gain access to the freshest and most objective ideas. Ironically, sometimes working with the inside team can even be more difficult than working with an outside provider!
Often, the biggest drawback to effective department synergy is a combination of 1) failure to establish a project goal and 2) strong communication and feedback about reaching the goal.
Goal Setting
Nothing is more powerful in an organization or department than a unified goal. You make the effort real when you state the goal to your team clearly and succinctly. (The SMART goal format is a great place to start). How-to-write-a-smart-goal-template
Once you establish the goal, it’s your job to keep momentum by updating your collective team on progress.
Communication and Feedback
When you break the project goals down to individual responsibilities, it’s easier to keep everyone on track. Every member of the team should be clear on expectations and completion dates.
Outside teams can also offer more support and perspective when they see the entire picture, not just the small sliver of activity that represents their contribution.
Course Correction and Adjustments
If the assumptions you made or expected results are not materializing, you must be flexible to change. Course corrections during the journey are warranted if it means that the journey will be more successful.
A good practice is to check in with key team members and ask if goals are on track or off track. Nobody wins if plans come up short of the true goal.
Building your team and creating a unified focus is critical to your success. Let us know how Westamerica can help.