The Secret to Setting Effective Team Goals

What are team goals?

Team goals are targets which a team will agree upon to drive their collective performance. Team leaders are usually accountable for making sure these goals both align with organisational goals, whilst also inspiring team members to aim higher.
In the run up to the Atlanta Olympic Games, Mark Richardson and his teammates set three types of goals to activate their team potential: process, performance, and outcome goals.

Process goals

Process goals focus on the specific actions, techniques or strategies necessary to achieve performance and outcome goals.
For Mark and his 4x400m Olympic team, their process goal was centred on the final baton changeover. This was key for their final runner to be able to chase down their strongest opponents, the Americans. So, they spent hours building their confidence in training to make sure they had the best chance of passing the baton smoothly.

Performance goals

Performance goals focus on a specific standard to be achieved. This could be a number of sales for a business development team, a rate of crime in the area for a local police force, or a percentage of happy patients for a medical unit.
For Mark and his teammates, they had a series of individual performance goals which they were each working towards. They regularly reviewed these with their coaches, making tweaks and adjustments to have the best chance of achieving them. The aim was that they would each run a personal best in the build up to the Games, so that each of them was in peak condition when it mattered most.

Outcome goals

Outcome goals are the ultimate objective which the team is focused on.
For Mark and his team, this was to win an Olympic medal, a vision which had inspired each of them since childhood. To achieve it, they had to rely on each other and build their team identity. When the individual events ended, they purposefully spent as much time together as possible – they dined together and even wore the same uniform on a daily basis to make sure they broke down the silos of individual competition (they had been competing against each other all season long!) to start coalescing as a team.

So, how can this be applied to the workplace?

Using the process, performance, and outcome goal framework can help leaders and managers carve a clear path to spur their teams on towards success. It’s important that these goals are based on a clear collective vision to inspire the team, whilst making sure that realistic targets have been set.
Below are Mark Richardson’s four top tips to ensure that everyone in your team is motivated by your team goals:

1. Engage your team to co-create the outcome goal and its associated process and performance targets.
2. Give your team ownership of the goals – by assigning individual performance goals for example – as this will act as a motivational tool.
3. Remember the purpose of your goals and keep reminding your team of the inspiring vision that sits behind them.
4. Schedule in review meetings with your team, to monitor their progress and encourage feedback from each individual.