How to Communicate With Your Team to make them "SMART" ...

We hear from our oldaged that "Together everyone achieves more" but this is often not true or possible without Smart team. Some competent people cannot work together because communication prevents this. I had to think of a model that would empower leaders and their team members in explaining and understanding the purpose of the team so that the outcome was more likely to be realized. After working with teams for years, I came up with a TEAM communication process that strengthened the team building and planning process.

Following are the Few Model Keys to have smart team !

Thought

Thought deals with the goal of the team. What was the reason this team was formed? The goal is an outcome and the thought stage deals with addressing this outcome with the other leadership in your group. Goals can be created using our S.M.A.R.T.I. model as an option; you can find specifics in my How to Create Winning Goalspaper. Quickly, this deals with the following criteria of a goal being:

· Specific

· Measurable

· Attainable

· Realistic

· Time-based, and

· Inclusive

This process of goal creation creates an understandable and well-communicated picture of achievable outcomes. When goals are written and communicated well they give energy to your message.

Emotion

Emotion is often overlooked in our society because it is deemed better to suppress those feeling, trully said "Logic makes people think but emotions make people move." Without an emotional connection to a personal goal of your teammate, there will be resistance where there should be none because it does not link to their personal objectives. If the team is formed to enrich the group, not just one member, then a connection can be lost if this is not addressed. Overcome this by addressing it with each potential member at the beginning of the process. Using emotion is ethical if your purpose is to provide something that improves the life of this person. Sometimes these are called motivators and you will rarely find that they are just money. Your job as leader is to move to the next step smoothly.

Alignment

Alignment is the bridge-building step between the thought and the emotion. Aligning these objectives creates a win/win for your team and starts the engine working on progress. Alignment is found in your communication. Present the goal and ask what you can help them gain from helping to achieve this together. This step asks you to speak in a way that bridges the gap of thought and emotion to the individual and group by providing for their needs while the goals are being completed. Although having a goal and an emotional connection is vital, it still is not enough. The final step is the test of the team and the leadership and is the hallmark of moving to success.

Motion

Intelligent motion is another differentiator of an average team from a smart one. If members leave the meetings and do not attempt to contribute the resources then the motivation can often be lost. Without motion, you will find that the bridge built during alignment will soon crumble. The saying that, 'success createsmore success' is vital here. In our other paper, Celebrating Small Success, you will find motivational and affordable methods to ensure that motion is not lost. The celebration should be tied to milestones that are measurable so that you can begin the performance analysis process.

Addressing and articulating the objective of a team, in this manner, brings clarity to a complex ritual of empowering people to make a change that affects the world.

Using this model has allowed numerous teams to rally the effectiveness of objectives and to find a deeper more enriching meaning to the work we do each day.