Team Work and Shared Vision

Volume #18 - April 2001

What makes one team more productive than another? What is it that pulls a team together enabling the members to work together more effectively? Like any good partnership, a key ingredient of successful team work is having a shared vision, of mutually creating an image of an ideal future.

One of the things that I find lacking in working for myself is the sense of sharing a goal, of working toward something together with other people, of sharing the difficult moments and challenges, but more importantly of sharing the joy that come with success. It reminds me of feelings I had as a young mother. When my daughter was only three and a half, her father left our marriage, and I was a single parent for a long time. One of my greatest regrets while she was growing up was not having the person who was the co-creator of our shared vision to share her triumphs and joy with. There was no one else who felt the same kind of intensity over her successes, big or small. Neither my family nor my friends had the same degree of emotional investment - they cared, of course, but not in quite the same way.

I think teamwork is similar. When we design something along with others, whether it's a product, a service, or a strategy, we give birth to something that no one else outside of the team looks at in quite the same way. In that birthing process, we give whatever it is we have created some of our spirit and energy. And it's that spirit and energy that fuels us. We draw our power from our shared vision, stimulating our creativity. A shared vision reflects our mutual purpose. Knowing it's a reflection of us, both individually and collectively, we are more committed to the outcome and have a greater desire to make things happen. A true sense of ownership emerges. Thus, we become more accountable.

As a manager or a leader, it's important for you to understand how to empower your team. When you enable your team members to create a shared vision, they'll find ways to align themselves around it and they'll be far more dedicated to the results because they'll have pride in their creation. The process of birthing a vision together actually enables the team to embody the values and beliefs and internalize the goals. And it gives them a sense of belongingness, providing a stabilizing force. When a team feels rooted in the values and the vision that it has created together the team is better able to produce a set of principles that will guide behaviors. This, in turn, leads to the creation of effective practices and processes. Moreover, it deflects a need for top-down authority. The more accountable the team is, the less team members will rely on you. And you'll be freed up to manage at macro rather than micro levels.

However, as the leader you set the tone. You create the environment that fosters the capacity of your team to create a shared vision. That environment needs to be one that contains a great amount of trust, openness and communication. It needs to promote interaction and collaboration. Your team has to have a "safe space," an atmosphere of collegiality in which to come together. As the leader you create and hold that space. You have to do your work in order for them to do theirs.

COACHING QUESTIONS FOR SHARED VISION

1. What do we want to create and achieve?
2. What is our purpose and why is it worthy?
3. Whom do we serve?
4. What unique value can we offer?
5. What do we need to do to offer that value?
6. What is our relationship to our organization?
7. What legacy do we want to leave?
8. What part will each of us play?

(These questions were taken from The Dance of Change by Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross, George Roth and Bryan Smith. Another great source for information on shared vision is The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by the same authors

Copy © 2000 Virginia O'Brien All s Reserved

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