Hello fellow project managers, business analysts and stakeholders! I am excited to share an important topic with you on how to develop goals for project team members and the overall team. Hope you find this post insightful!

In your career, it is important that you set goals to achieve so that you can continue to grow. It is also important to increase your knowledge within specific topics. When it comes to projects, it is also equally important to set goals for your team. Project team goals require a common understanding among the team members. In addition, as a project manager or project workstream lead, it is important to meet with your team members individually. From this perspective, it is important to discuss their individual goals of what they are looking to achieve. Leveraging this approach will enable the project manager to make sure that the individual’s goals are aligned to the project team’s common goals. It will help the team is achieving results within their project while also at a personal career level. 

Team Goals

I have provided a few areas to focus on when building team goals:

Remember what the organization’s vision and mission is.

When starting a project, it is important to keep the organization’s vision and mission statement within focus. An organization’s vision is what it is seeking to become or aspiring to be. The organization’s mission statement states the purpose of the organization, why it exists and its overall objectives. The project’s purpose should be aligned to the organization’s mission and vision. 

Focus on common outcomes

When developing project team goals, it is important to focus on a set of common outcomes. Everyone on the team may bring different skillsets, personalities and approaches, but the overall project team goals should be common. If the project involves implementing a software solution, then the common outcome may be to create a working software solution. This solution should meet the customer’s needs. This is a simple and common outcome that can drive the project team members to have a common objective. It will also increase focus within in the project.

Describe how the goals impact the overall big picture

As you develop project team goals, it is important to connect the project level goals to the big picture. This is also important in the case of what an organization is trying to achieve. If the project is within an IT modernization program of an organization, explain how this project will increase the value. It is also important to understand how it will help the organization over a specific period of time. What if the project’s purpose is to create a solution for the customer to use? Then the bigger picture can be to focus on simplifying the lives of consumers through a software solution. 

Show a picture of what success looks like

What if your team is taking on a massive effort and the project will take a year or longer? It can be hard to visualize what “the end” will look like. At this junction, it is important to be able to visualize success and understand that things will take time. When you can visualize what success will look like to the entire project team, they will become more motivated. This is important to establish from the very beginning. Focusing on achieving the goals will help the team be more enthusiastic in getting tasks completed and focusing on results.

Develop an action plan, including making goals quantifiable and measurable

Project team goals can be set through a phased approach, milestone approach, or overall project approach. As a project manager, it may be easier to set goals by phase or milestones. With this approach, the goals are easily measurable and the team can see how things are progressing within the project. At the same time, once team goals have been identified, it’s the project manager’s responsibility to set an action plan. An action plan is usually part of the project plan and used to determine how to achieve these goals. When executing the project plan, the goals become achievable and the team knows what needs to be done.

Hold each other accountable to meet the team’s common outcome

You have probably heard that when you are held accountable to get something done, you will usually get it done. This holds true in the case of working through project goals as well. When you have accountability to deliver something, you will figure out how to do the work. Also, you will focus on completing it within the set time frame. One approach to achieve this is to have accountability partners within the project team. These are people who “nudge” their team members to make sure project work is progressing and results are being achieved. 

Share progress with team

It’s important for the project manager to share results on how the team is performing in meeting the project goals. This is important when the project team sets out to execute on the project team goals. The project manager uses a Gantt chart to show project progress. The project manager can also show a presentation of where things stand. This is a great way to boost team morale as you go through a project. It provides a perspective for the entire team of what the project situation is. It also shows how the overall team is progressing in meeting and achieving project team goals.

Individual Goals

Besides focusing on team level goals, it is also important for the project manager to meet with individual team members. Why is this important? Its critical to understand how the project can help each individual achieve their personal career goals. It is equally important tome sure their goals are aligned to the project level goals.

Determine what drives and motivates individual project team members

Everyone has a different set of factors that motivate or drive them. These can include a sense of affiliation, sense of power, or sense of achievement.  

A sense of affiliation refers to being part of the project team and having a specific role. Affiliation is where the team members are connected to others within the team. They focus on maintaining positive relationships with project team members or stakeholders that he/she works with. 

Sense of power can refer to having a specific role that others on the project team may not have. Providing additional responsibilities or giving a unique set of tasks to a project team member establishes purpose. This will drive individuals to deliver the project level tasks but also focus on adding value in other ways. 

There are team members who also want a sense of achievement. There are individuals who feel a sense of pride and happiness when they are able to solve a problem. This applies when individuals have to deliver something that was not delivered before. 

Spending time to understand what motivates each individual is important. The project manager can help them determine what additional activities or responsibilities each team member can take on. This will help deliver the project while also being able to help the individual stay driven.

Leverage the organization’s goals to drive the team to work on the project with a higher sense of purpose

At times, your team members may have a lot going on in their mind. They may not know which direction to go in terms of their goals or career vision. At times, the individual’s goals may not be very relevant to what the organization is focused on. At this point, as a manager, it is important to actively listen to what the individual team member’s needs are. It is critical to understand how the goals can be translated into meeting the organization’s vision. When doing this, it’s important to incorporate elements of the individual’s goal.

What if the individual’s goal is to create personalized artwork? What if the organization is focused on software engineering products? It may be relevant to have the team member involved in the design aspects of the software solution. This approach works if they are very passionate about being artistic and creative. This is one way to approach goals in terms of helping to align individual goals to organization level goals.

Conduct individual check-ins to discuss goals, progress and any changes that need to be made in focusing on goals

Once you have set your goals with team members, it is important to have regular check-ins or check-ins as needed. It is great to create specific, measurable and time sensitive goals. It’s equally important to follow up on these goals.

Setting up regular check-ins as a leader means you should check to see how your team members are doing. It’s also making sure that they are progressing towards their goals. A checkin can include a coffee chat, lunch meeting or even a wellness walk checkin. There may be issues or the specific team members may be getting off track. At this point, try to assess where the issue may be coming from. Are they overwhelmed with too many tasks? Is there something that is impacting their personal life and its translating into work life? Being able to understand the situation that team member is facing will enable you in many ways. It will help you to show a better sense of understanding and empathy. This is important as you support them and re-assess what they can do to get back on track.

I hope you enjoyed this post! How do you motivate your team to focus on quality? Leave us a comment below!