When your team isn’t on the same page, you can feel it — and it hurts. You’ll have 

• Bad communication
• Confusion on priorities
• Lower quality of work
• Less collaboration
• Slower progress toward goals
• Less efficiency
• Bad vibes

… just to name a few issues.

But the bottom line is, every single person on your team has an individual perspective on their work and their place in the larger picture of the business. So how do you overcome (and leverage) your team members’ unique viewpoints to create a cohesive, well-running company?

Implementing a business operating system (like Pinnacle or EOS) is one way to give your team a common language and framework to fall back on. But if you’re not yet ready to commit to one B.O.S. in particular, there are still ways to get your team on the same page.

Start with the vision

If you’re reading this blog, there are probably things that your team isn’t doing that you wish they were or vice versa. Instead of approaching changes from a place of negativity (i.e. “don’t do this” and “why aren’t we doing that?”), figure out the big picture of what it is you do want.

For example: do you feel like different departments are working toward different goals, sometimes undermining each other? Come up with a plan to have unified company goals, and have department goals cascade down only from those.

Your company’s vision can be organized in a variety of ways, depending on your business operating system or just whatever works best for your team. Regardless, it starts from your biggest, most audacious goals and should filter down into clear objectives for your people.

Create consistency

Once you have your vision, cultivate consistency around it. When you’re talking in your leadership meetings about projects and goals, be firm about ensuring they align with the vision you’ve set for your company, no exceptions. It might feel limiting at first, but once you get every project aligned to a singular goal, you’ll see how much better your team works.

Create and implement processes that will make it easier for you and your team to track goals and progress. Define metrics that will show you in black and white whether you’re on track. For example, if your goal is 20 sales this quarter to support 80 sales this year, and you’ve gotten 2 sales in the first month, you know you that something’s gotta give. Without metrics to hold you and your team accountable, you will suffer from confusion and a lack of consistency. 

Prioritize communication

In any team effort, communication is key. You can’t take for granted that people will understand how to interpret new initiatives unless you communicate how important they are. Whether you’re in-person or a remote, distributed team, you likely have two main channels for team communication: meetings, and asynchronous communication.

Meetings

Meetings: love them or hate them, they’re most likely going to be necessary for your team’s communication. If you streamline your meetings and focus on the necessary communication, you’ll hate them a lot less. A good meeting will always have:

• A collaborative agenda
• Consistent timing
• A clear outcome

For more detail on the best way to run leadership meetings with topics and agendas, check out our blog here. 

Also — don’t neglect your one-on-one meetings! These are the best way for managers and their direct reports to get on the same page. We recommend a regular cadence for these as well, and that they should be treated with the same care as any other meeting.

Asynchronous communication

A good flow of asynchronous communication has many benefits: meetings are faster because everyone’s caught up, issues are resolved before they snowball, and your team is engaging more regularly.

We believe that asynchronous communication should go beyond emails and messages. Try voice notes to do some virtual ‘spitballing’ without interrupting what anyone else is doing. 

Ideally, you’ll also be working with a platform that also allows for communication about meeting topics in between meetings. Our team finds that we can often resolve issues slated for discussion before we even get to the meeting!

You should also be able to communicate about projects asynchronously – posting updates, soliciting input, and asking for help with blockers. WHen your asynchronous communication is flowing, your team is better able to get into deep work, boosting efficiency and satisfaction with their day-to-day.

Nurture collaboration

The best way to get buy-in from your people is to include them in a feedback loop that actually affects change in your organization. Most people won’t get their processes exactly right on the first try. Instead, you’ll go through phases of implementation and iteration as you try to find the best ways of working for your team.

As you iterate, include your team in the discussion! While you may be able to see the outcome of a certain process, nobody knows better than them whether the process actually feels sustainable in the long-term. Encourage your team to speak up. Helpful hint: create a regular space for feedback in your meetings.

Strive for authentic leadership

While you’re working to strengthen your organization, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll make some mistakes. The hard truth is, nobody’s perfect, not even you! Along the way, your employees won’t mind if you’re not perfect, as long as you’re transparent and authentic about what you’re doing and why. It’s much easier for someone to deal with change at work when they know why it’s happening and they have trust that their leadership is doing the best they can for them.

Being an authentic leader isn’t always easy, but it is always rewarding. When you’re genuine with your employees, they’ll return the favor. People bringing their true, best selves to work will always do a better job than disengaged employees.

If you’d like an affordable, intuitive platform that makes it easier for your team to get on the same page, why not give Strety a try? Better yet, book a demo and one of our team members will walk you through the tools you can leverage whether you’re already running a B.O.S., or just wanting to get your team moving in the same direction.