How to use strategy to leverage your team

In a previous article I listed the 4 different ways to create leverage. One of those options is to hire a team to get more done than you could on your own. But the problem is if the team is not aligned you find yourself spending so much time managing the team that you are not getting the full benefits.

If you find yourself saying the following, strategy is the answer:

• The team are not achieving what I want
• We are not moving as quickly as I want
• Why are the team not generating more ideas?
• Why do I have to get involved to get the team to move?

All of these issues can be solved by setting a clear goal, and over communicating that goal. In Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” he spoke about “Autonomy, mastery and purpose” as the key elements for motivation.

Autonomy is the element we are going to focus on here. To give a team autonomy you need to be sure that they all have the same goal in mind - then you can help them accelerate.

Alignment check

Checking team alignment is simple - ask them! Every few weeks ask the team what the most important goal is. If everyone answers the same then you can empower their autonomy, if different members say different things then you need to communicate the most important goal more often. I was once told - “Only when you are sick of repeating yourself to point you think you’ve said the same thing a million times, then you have communicated effectively”.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place