Design Your Team to Achieve Your Outcomes
Doing work for the Federal government is like steering a large ship through the waters—a ship sailed by multiple teams made up of a diverse set of individuals. The ability of these individuals to work together determines whether or not the ship makes it to its destination.
Reaching the destination and achieving target goals depends on a well-balanced team with great synergy and great communication. Use these three practices to enhance your team-building capabilities and enable smooth sailing:
Design Your Team with Intent – To build your best team you must understand the skills and knowledge of your employees. When building your team, consider each employee’s strengths, weaknesses, passions, knowledge, and communication style. How do these features interplay? How can you use each employee’s strengths to achieve your mission goals?
Enhance Open Communication – Collaboration tools like SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Skype for Business enhance your team’s ability to productively use its workspaces. Encourage your team to use these shared spaces to boost productivity and team collaboration across deliverables. Shared knowledge is the most valuable asset a team has at its disposal
Set Goals, Define Outcomes – Set a clearly defined goal for your team. If the outcome of a project is larger than a single goal, break up the project into specific sub-goals and milestones. This streamlines the project and allows you to assign specific team members for these and allows the teammates to achieve common goals by applying their unique knowledge and skill sets. Use a SMART Analysis to make your goals Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound
Government leaders don’t always have the opportunity to design the composition of their teams before their projects begins. However, you can still apply these tools to your current team to enhance productivity. It’s important to set a clear and compelling overall vision for the team, evaluate how things are going along the way, ask for feedback, and adjust as you to mitigate risk and achieve goals.
By considering the strengths and talents of your team members, enhancing open communication through collaborative tools, and setting clear goals and project milestones, you set the stage for a positive team dynamic, and set sail with nothing but clear skies and productive teamwork ahead.
About Arc Aspicio
Arc Aspicio is a management, strategy, and technology consulting firm that takes a mission-oriented approach to complex client challenges. Focused on innovation, Arc Aspicio provides services in strategy, design, human capital, operations, analytics and visualization, technology, and information sharing. The company is known for a strong, collaborative culture that values gratitude, provides leadership opportunities, and explores the future. Our teams use a human-centered approach to working with clients and are flexible and responsive within dynamic Government client environments that often have new priorities and evolving missions. We thrive on these situations and promote continuous improvement and new ideas. And, #welovedogs! Follow us on Twitter @arcaspicio or learn more at www.arcaspicio.com.
