Team Flow Trigger: Shared, Clear Goals
How team success can create the ultimate win-win situation
In this edition, I’m breaking down the basics of the team flow trigger Shared, Clear Goals, real-world examples of it being applied, and the importance of goals at the least being complementary.
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I promise you won’t hear any “teamwork makes the dream work” generic phrases from me with these team flow triggers.
True team success takes more than huddling your team together and saying:
Shared, Clear Goals
For group flow to arise, everybody needs to be heading in the same direction. Shared, clear goals is how this happens. Remember, this doesn’t have to be fancy. What matters is that the group feels like they are moving together toward the same (or complementary) targets.
Psychologist Keith Sawyer, who first identified group flow, discovered that while high-performing teams need a shared goal, it works against group flow if the goal is too tightly focused.
Essentially, you want enough of a target so that the team knows when they’re getting closer to success—and progress can be measured—but one that is open-ended enough for creativity to emerge.
How I Use Shared, Clear Goals 😎
Danny (my former division manager who’s holding the trophy in the picture above) had major goals for the SEC Division. when it came to the sales company I used to work for, as an assistant manager, you were now in the pool of potential Branch and District Managers within the Division. The company only promoted from within, so it was cool to know that Danny was once a rep and AM just like me, being challenged and increasing his skillset.
Attending Division Leadership meetings in Birmingham was a requirement for candidates. Here, we learned more about the division’s goals and improved our leadership skills in management. As a division, we were competing with other divisions in our region like the Southern Rock Division—based out of Memphis, TN, and run by DVM Mark Bullard; and the Rocky Mountain Division—based in Denver, Colorado, and run by DVM Drew Frank. Our division was based out of Alabama. Regarding population and median income, we were at the bottom of the totem pole.
But you couldn’t tell that by our division’s mindset and swag. We knew pound for pound we were the best, and we knew we had the best sales training program. I became an assistant manager summer of 2013, but Danny was already sharing divisional goals for 2014 and how this team of BMs and DMs would be the team to achieve the $5 million in a year milestone. This made everyone join arms and boldly move towards this common goal together—which helped the region win a national champion for 2014. And the region went on to win multiple championships year after year.
How The Greats Use Shared, Clear Goals 🤌🏾
We’ve all seen the moment. In the last play of the 2012 National Championship, Alabama went up 42-14 against an unbeaten Notre Dame team, seconds away from back-to-back titles—three in the last four years. That didn’t stop quarterback AJ McCarron and center Barrett Jones from pushing and shoving each other due to bad communication that led to a delay of game penalty.
Coach Saban’s “The Process” is a shared, clear goal throughout their entire program. Everyone does their job in every play, and everyone works to be a champion in every play. If everyone focuses on this, then winning a championship is a hard goal that should take care of itself.
Unlike the above-mentioned Alabama coaching legend’s focus—where winning a championship was aspirational—being a champion is filtrational. It helps everyone on the team to focus on the shared clear goals that matter and block out the “rat poison” that doesn’t.
Named the first head coach of the start-up Florida Gators soccer program on June 28, 1994. During her 26-year tenure, she compiled an overall career record of 513–160–46, with a winning percentage of 0.745. She ranks second in total number of all-time wins among Division I coaches.
She created a green campaign to help her team embrace going all in. Despite the team colors being orange and blue, the team wore green wristbands on the field. And when they didn’t have their wristbands, they would take a Sharpie and draw a green dot on their arm as a reminder.
Authenticity is a universal term that comes to mind when you think of Coach Staley—she likes to use the term truth. And this happens to be a shared, clear goal for her championship program.
Players know what to expect from the legendary player-turned-coach from Philly. She gives everything its place: good, bad, or indifferent—then moves on. She expects her players to follow suit and keep up with her.
This creates clarity and trust with the team. There’s no thinking or wondering. This energy exchange lowers cognitive load and provides more energy being placed on the task at hand—lately, that task has been to dominate in every facet of the game.
This Week’s Book Recommendation📖
From bestselling author Jon Gordon and coauthor Kate Leavell, Stick Together delivers a crucial message about the power of belief, ownership, connection, love, inclusion, consistency, and hope. The authors guide individuals and teams on an inspiring journey to show them how to persevere through challenges, overcome obstacles, and create success together.
Stick Together follows Coach David, a high school basketball coach looking to motivate his team for the new season. The team members are given sticks with words written on them and tasked with a number of missions:
To find another player with the same word written on their stick
To explain why that word is important for a team to be their best
To render their sticks unbreakable
As the players work together to complete their tasks, they discover how to make their team stronger and create an unbreakable bond. Perfect for student-athletes and teams in all industries including business, education, healthcare, and nonprofit, and readers of all ages, Stick Together will resonate with anyone looking to improve their team performance and excel in a group environment.
Last Words…
“Aligned personal goals” have become another variation on this theme. It means, if you want group flow, when the teams wins the individuals who make up that team also have to win. If the team knows the leader will eventually hop the spotlight, then that leader is stealing dopamine from the team—and paying the price in flow.
We see this occur when most of the All-Americans chosen make up players who are on winning teams. When the team win, the individual players on the team win also. Even trainers and strength coaches have gotten “better”
Shared Clear Goals are the ultimate win win situation where everyone involved benefits drastically.
Hope this added the fuel to ferociously launch your week! ♾️🔥🚀
See you next Monday! 😎
And when it comes to the infinite game of life…
Choose Flow.
Be Brilliant.
Ball Out.
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