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For Your Team to Run Smoothly, First Define Expectations

by Stephen Hawley Martin
for Virginia Business
September 5, 2006

Let's say your business has moved from the traditional management pyramid to interlocking, empowered teams, and you find yourself leading one of them. Or maybe the boss has chosen you to head up a team that's to study an issue, make recommendations, and take action. How do you get your team functioning as it should? Step one at the first meeting is to answer the question, "What behaviors must a member of our team demonstrate to make sure the team operates effectively and achieves its goals?"

Examples are that everyone should be on time, show respect to one another, that the leader ought to prepare an agenda, distribute it in advance, stick to it, and the meeting should adjourn on time. Defined expectations become, in effect, behavioral performance standards for team members and the team leader.

In short:
o The leader must define, in behavioral terms, what he or she expects of the team.

o The team must define what it expects from the leader.

o And team members must define what they expect from each other.

Team members and the leader need to articulate and document their expectations, then discuss them. The entire team ought to reach agreement and commit to do the best they can to abide by the agreement.

Of course, no one is perfect, so the process of defining expectations isn't done until the team decides what will happen when expectations aren't met.

For example, if a violation occurs, the team may decide to use a three-step method to handle the situation:
1. One-on-one feedback. For example, if one team member treats another disrespectfully - a violation of the team's behavioral expectations - the individuals involved should first engage in a one on one effort to resolve the issue. In most situations, this will be all that's required. If team members choose not to have this conversation, it would be a violation of the team's behavioral process.

2. Team discussion. If the one-on-one discussion doesn't resolve the issue - that is, the team member persists in disrespectful behavior - the issue ought to be brought before the team, with the team working to develop a solution to the issue.

3. Team leader meeting. If the behavior continues, the team leader becomes involved by working with the individuals and reaching a final decision on how to resolve the issue. At this point, the behavioral issue may be handled as a performance issue. The team leader will need to enforce the organization's policies in this regard, which could ultimately result in the team member leaving the team - and the organization.

The most important step a team leader will take is getting off on the right foot. And that means having expectations defined at the outset.

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Stephen Hawley Martin is a former principal of The Martin Agency in Richmond and the author of more than half a dozen books including his newest, Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself. He is editor and publisher of The Oaklea Press, a book publishing business dedicated primarily to helping business executives increase productivity.