Want a more focused team? Follow these 15 steps

As employees go through the daily grind of their jobs, it’s easy for them to lose sight of why your company does what it does. If a company isn’t clear enough about its mission and values, it can be hard for an employee to feel like they fit into the equation and make an impact. However, a good leader must be able to get his team together and get them back on track.

Below is a panel of businessroundups.org Business Council members give their best advice on how a team can be more focused. They discuss the importance of finding your “why” as a business owner and the impact it can have on the overall success of your business.

1. Lead with the ‘why’

The team leader should lead the mission or the ‘why’ and it should be incorporated into the core values. Lead the meetings with the “why” and include it in customer calls and updates. Be intentional with the reminders with signage and signature lines. – Brandy Whitmire, The Brandy Whitmire Mortgage Team

2. Keep the mission at the forefront of meetings

I recommend starting each meeting with your mission statement, which should accurately convey your company’s motivation to do good. By opening with your higher purpose, every member of your team is reminded every day of why they show up at work. Having everyone focused in one direction helps to promote change in the real world. – Kent Gregory, Symphony advantage

 

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3. Show employees why they are important to the company

Be honest with your teams: they cannot know what matters to the bottom line if you are not honest with them. When employees have a never-ending to-do list, many of the tasks can start to feel tedious or pointless. Leaders need to step back and clarify how tasks in each role fall back on overall company goals. – David Bennett, Object first

4. Make your impact visible to employees

Use a big hairy bold target (BHAG) or similar. Create a measurable goal and a North Star that is directly linked to your vision. Put that measurement up and visible, and four milestones and the ticking of your team reaching that goal. Visualizing your impact on that goal and vision reminds people that they have a greater impact. – Samuel Johnson, n enterprise

5. Check in with employees to stay on track

Keep your team focused on the big picture. Plan regular contact moments with each other to discuss how things are going. It is important to have these contact moments during coffee breaks and lunch breaks when people are more relaxed. – Udi Dorner, Set Schedule

6. Show the goal of the employees

Goal alignment is often overlooked, but it all helps to connect to the “why” behind what you do. Start by articulating the company’s purpose. Each department, team and individual must align that goal with their day-to-day work. Understanding how you can contribute to the organization’s purpose will keep everyone engaged. Managers must ensure that employees recognize their contribution to the overall goal. – Chris McGrath, appreciated Inc.

7. Lead each day with values

Start every meeting, every new client project, and everything in between with your “why” so it’s never lost. Bake it into your company culture and help your team find new and different ways to get to the “why” every day. – Cain Rogers, Alta Via Communications, LLC

8. Look for customer success stories

We regularly check in with our employees – and we should do the same with our customers. Hearing customer success stories straight from the source is the easiest way to help you get back to the “This is why we do what we do” realization. These anecdotes can revive stagnant teams in a company and remind them of the ultimate problems they are trying to solve. – Ty Allen, SocialClimb

9. Help your team share a “why”.

Leaders often have a clear goal and assume that their team members share this goal. In fact, team members are often driven by another goal, usually the desire for a paycheck. To build alignment in your team, it’s critical that everyone shares a “why.” If you run a business, this “why” starts with you. – Kevin Markarian, Roopler

10. Make sure the ‘why’ is taken into account in every decision

The “why” should be carved into a company’s mission, vision and core values ​​- and those three things should be central to decision making. During decision-making meetings, the team should ask themselves this question: “Does this decision move us closer to or further from our mission?” It may seem small, but it has a huge impact in keeping everyone on the same page. – Sam Kaufman, On the Level Construction, LLC

11. Conduct recurring performance reviews

Clearly explain to each member how their role contributes to the company’s vision and mission. Making sure you do a weekly performance review will give you a chance to remind them of their goal and get them back on track. They often need to be reminded of the ‘why’ and ‘so what’ aspects of their role. It’s important because it keeps every employee motivated and feeling valued. – Saravana Kumar, Kovai.co

12. Make clear the purpose of each employee

Introduce the OKR model, assign individual goals to each individual employee in line with the key business objective, and hold a weekly meeting where you discuss performance against those goals and key results. If every member of the team knows how their work contributes to the overall goal, no one will ever lose sight of the “why” because this top goal is the “why” of your company. – Zain Jaffer, Zain Ventures

13. Be aware of how resources are used

Every company has a clear set of objectives that the team pursues. It is every team’s job to constantly ask the question, “Are our resources being spent to achieve our goals?” If you find yourself making the story “spaghetti-esque” about how you achieve business goals and other objectives, then most likely you’ve strayed from your goal. – Avy Punwasee, Income management labs

14. Share your customers’ satisfaction with your team

To reach and perform at a high level, gather your teammates to see the satisfaction they bring to your clients by doing their job with integrity. They must understand and trust the company’s vision, values ​​and purpose. Always use simple language and be clear, while also giving your teammates a way to express their opinion and show that you value them. – Francisco Ramirez, The ACE group (TAG)

15. Receive weekly feedback from customers

Schedule time each week to talk to your users or customers. Listen to their feedback and learn how your product has impacted their daily lives. Ask them their thoughts on new features you’re working on and what makes them excited to use your product. Their energy and emotions will remind you why you work so hard. Share this with your team to remind them too. – Tyler Weitzman, Speechify