There are crowds of people coming in and out of my life all the time. Whether I’m working with a team or we have the neighbors over our house, I live in the midst of constant crowds. What I’ve found, however, is that unless you establish what you are doing together and how you are going to do it, crowds of people can quickly turn into a disaster.
For instance, if I have a bunch of my kids friends over to watch a movie but don’t set some guiding principles for how the group should behave in my house, things won’t go well. I always begin like this, “I’m glad you are here, I want to talk to you about the type of behavior that’s appropriate when we are together. Then we establish some kind of standard to live by for our few hours together.
I haven’t always done this. There have been times in the past when I just expected the kids would figure out how they should act. It usually turned out with someone getting whacked in the head by a flying object or hurt by playing too rough.
The same is true in an organization. Determining where you are going (Vision) and the behaviors expected along the way (Values) will keep you on track and working well together. Without that, whoever has the loudest voice will win. The problem with this is that whoever has the loudest voice, isn’t always right.
Take the time to set the Vision & Values of your organization. In the end, doing this together will get you where you want to be faster and happier. If you don’t do this you risk your crowd turning into an angry mob. Turning them into a team is a much better option. Need help? Send me an email.