Teamwork Improving Tip
Could you imagine any sports team seriously competing without a scoreboard? Do you think the teams would play different? Can you imagine watching the “big game” without seeing the score? How long would you continue to watch the game?
In my years of experience of developing teams in business I have rarely seen one use a scoreboard. In sports the scoreboard is very visible and is critical to the teams success as they evaluate how they are doing, adjust and do their best to score higher than their competition.
A scoreboard on a business team fulfills the same purpose. It provides the team a way to display how they are doing, monitor their progress and make adjustments to their top priorities and goals.
Without a scoreboard people play differently.
I used to play a lot of pickup basketball. Most of the time we never kept score. While it was fun, the effort and result were lackluster and little improvement of skills occurred. Few really cared about the outcome and we spent a lot of time taking breaks, horsing around and doing things we would never do in a game with a scoreboard that mattered.
I have seen the same lack of focus and caring on business teams where there was no scoreboard. Teams with a scoreboard outshine those without – period. They play harder, they care more, they assess, evaluate and adjust their efforts – they are simply more focused on the outcome. Teamwork and results improve when the score of the team is being kept and focused on improving goals.
The Team Scoreboard Should:
1. Chart achievement and include where the team currently is in relation to the goal, what the target goal/result is and the deadline for completion of the goal. It can be in the form of a speedometer, thermometer, bar graph or whatever creative and easily understandable way you want to chart the teams progress.
2. Be easy to understand. When you look at a scoreboard in sporting events (once you understand the scoring process) it only takes a glance to know where the team stands. Your teams scoreboard should also only take a glance for members of the team to understand.
3. Be big and visible to the entire team. Place the board in a place where team members will regularly see it.
4. Be updated regularly. Someone on the team should be appointed as a scorekeeper and tasked with consistently updating the score.
5. Be displayed and reviewed in every team and/or project meeting. Make your scoreboard portable so it can be brought into each meeting. Meetings are an opportunity to talk about progress, barriers and any adjustments that are needed to be made to improve the score.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to see the focus and pace of your team increase? Are you ready to see more collaboration, more caring and improvement? Then I would recommend using a team scoreboard. With a little effort it can have a tremendous impact on your teams performance and their goals.
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