From the course: Teamwork Foundations

A shared vision of success

From the course: Teamwork Foundations

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A shared vision of success

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- One of the roles of a team player is to help the leader to be great. And one of the key aspects of a great leader is vision, to provide a vision that excites the team. We're naturally pack animals who are also goal-seeking animals, we love to have a quest, and we're united by having a quest together. We forget all our petty differences when we know where we're going and we feel that we're moving forwards on our quest together. So one of the most important jobs of the leader is to choose and then show us the goal that we're going to achieve together. Whether it's expanding into South America or increasing the amount of recycling that we're doing, or saving money, or launching an amazing new product. Even if you're not the top leader of the organization, but you manage just a small part of it, you still need to have a vision for your part. How can your department be great? How can it move a little bit closer towards greatness this year? And as a member of a team, you can still contribute to the ideas of how the team can be great. It doesn't have to all come from your boss. And it's not good enough just to sit there and complain that your boss hasn't generated an exciting enough vision. You're in the team too, remember. You can also encourage the boss to articulate the vision. Often, because they're busy or haven't really thought about the importance of it, they don't tell the team what the plan is or at least not what the bigger picture is, only what they think you need to know for your bit. So we do need to know where we fit into the bigger picture in order to have a real sense of purpose, and you can help everyone in the team by asking your boss about this. So I'd like you to ask yourself, how clearly do you see where your team is going at the moment? Have you asked your boss about the vision for the team? And finally, do you have any of your own suggestions about where the team should be going?

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