Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.
Fitzhugh Dodson
In building a team, the most important question which has to be answered is “why.” Why has this group been assembled? The answer to this question provides the purpose statement or mission for that team. In sports, teams are built to win games and championships. In business, teams are formed to make profits and hopefully provide financial security for its members. After the “why” question has been answered, there are two question which must come into the picture for team success. They are as follows:
1. What? – How will we accomplish this?
2. How? – What are we trying to accomplish?
When the “what” question is answered, those involved will identify the ultimate goal of that particular team. For an Olympic team, the ultimate goal is a gold medal. In families, the goal for parents is to raise children who grow up to be responsible adults. For my Portsmouth Christian baseball team, the ultimate pursuit is the title of Virginian Independent School Athletic Association Division II State Tournament Champions (although we’re still working on that one!). Although short term goals are necessary to be created along the way, the “Big Dream” provides the desired destination of the trip!
Then there’s the question of “how.” How will this team go about reaching their ultimate goal? The answer to this lies in recognizing the strengths of that particular team. Too often teams focus on their weaknesses to detriment of their niche. For instance, a baseball team will spend a huge amount of practice time on hitting when their true strength is in pitching and playing solid defense. They will lose a lot of games because, although they’re likely to score runs, they’ll give up a lot more runs due to walks and errors.
Once thought has been given to these two questions, a team can formulate a powerful action statement which ties directly into the mission or purpose of that team. The team should be reminded of this statement on a regular basis for a source of motivation. An example of this would be the following:
“Our goal is to win the VISAA DII State Championship by focusing on playing smart, errorless defense.”
This can be tailored to your team with the basic statement structure of “Our goal is to ______________ by focusing on _______________.”
How would you fill in these blanks for your team?? Please share your thought!!
