The Art of Team Planning

What if it is this simple… that there are just 5 requirements for you and your team to really feel successful: realize your goals and minimize the anxious, less productive experiences that the volume of work can bring?

Would you honour those requirements?

Here they are:

1. Create a plan to stay healthy.

Be committed to being human and hold your team accountable to it. Teach your team a common language to drop power struggles in how you react to each other when times are stressful. Don’t be hard on yourselves.

Adopt a process for your team members to clear up issues that create blaming, shaming and guilt-tripping when misunderstandings or a lack of clarity comes up.

Learn how to work with the tension that can arise as you work things out. Differing opinions or different work styles are normal and healthy.

2. Create a plan to stay Connected. 

Simplify your strategy. Keep your business goals clear and your milestones clearer. Monitor your financials and keep your finger on the pulse of how your team is doing and feeling as you hit the highs and lows of business.

3. Weave your plans together 

So you know how your business milestones impact your health milestones and vice versa. \

4. Commit.

I mean really commit. Ask yourself, “what will it take for me to go from ‘team planning is a nice idea but we are way to busy for that $#!+”, to “team planning is a must. We WILL create the time for this.“?

That’s the difference between reasons (excuses) or results. Oh, and it’s also the difference between being interested or committed. Ok, one more… it’s also the difference between a team whose mission is about fighting fires versus trailblazing.

5. Start

Having planning sessions at least 2x per year. Follow up with meetings in between to set mini health and business goals and monitor their impact on your mid-year and year-end and milestones.  

The biggest reason that people reject organizational and individual health in their planning is that it requires courage. – sentiment from Patrick Lencioni (The 5 dysfunctions of a Team)

How do you build a healthy team that really works exceptionally together?

Here is a checklist you can use to set up your team planning process to avoid the most common team pitfalls.

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Let’s stay real. People will miss work and deadlines. New business will come that will send you and your team on a different path. There will be tension, stress, excitement and fear.  

When you help your team plan well you protect them from the anxiety-producing effects of any intense, chaotic times ahead…

….and they can begin to develop the tools to feel a sense of calm and confidence– and let’s throw in some fun—with their work.

Team performance grows when your team members stay healthy while journeying through any vulnerabilities, uncertainty and changes in your business goals.

Check out our Exceptional Team Performance planning process to keep your business and your team healthy.