We believe in high performance teams and strategic planning. Over the years we have seen great programs fail because there was no follow-through. The big question is why! Why would anyone spend all that time and money to set up a strategic planning or team building event if they were not going to follow through?
The success of a strategic planning or team building event begins well before the start of the first meeting. What are you going to do with the results of these events? If you have a follow-through plan you have a better idea of the results you expect to see. If the participants of these events can mot see any follow-through, they will quickly resent all the time and effort pit into the event. The results could be worse than what would happen without the event.
These types of events should be expected to build trust, produce better processes or improve morale. If the participants perceive that the results are not being used or that what was said during the event is not reality there will be no trust built. Team building and planning events have the potential to develop a strong sense of direction ad a feeling of belonging. The difference between having the potential and actually seeing it happen is in the follow-through. Poorly planned events, developed outside of reality, have the potential for disillusionment, low morale and less trust.
Before you create a team building or strategic planning event determine what your expected results are. Are you expecting to actually develop a plan that you intend to execute? Are you expecting to develop a high performance team that you will delegate task to using the guidelines of a high performance team? Don’t hold an event just because it seems like the thing to do. Incorporate the event into your work culture with an integrated work purpose to which all participants can participate.
I would be interested if you have seen this problem in your business and how you overcame it.
