“Don’t tell me what to do!”

How do you react to being told rather than asked?

Resentful, threatened, defensive, undervalued, undermotivated? 

I think most of us would resonate with one or more of those rather than being thankful for the instruction, so why should our teams feel any different.

In which case, why not involve them in the development of the vision for your team and/or organisation?

Of course, you’ll have your ideas and the organisation will have some clear goals, so there will be boundaries, but think of the benefits:

☑  they will feel involved rather than imposed on

☑  it will give them a sense of ownership of the vision and actions to achieve it

☑  you will have a greater understanding of what matters to your team

☑  the resulting vision and associated plans will be much richer and detailed, which will improve the chances of them being achieved successfully and sustainably

A great method for doing this is the ‘catchball’ technique (so named because it’s a bit like treating the vision as a ball thrown between team members.  It allows you to share your ideas and get input from all of the team in a way that is inclusive, encourages honest input and is quite fun.