Leading Your Team Through an Initiative

Instead of just "winging it" as you lead your team through its next project or change process, consider leading more deliberately using an effective framework for navigating a change with your team. This could be a desire to operate differently, adherence to a new technology system, or navigating an organizational transition.

Let’s use the example that you are unsatisfied with the performance of your team and want to turn the page to where team members step up in stronger and bigger ways. You suspect this issue has mostly to do with team members' inability to prioritize and cross-collaborate.

Before presenting your new idea/process to the team, I challenge you to think about the following two questions. Then, steps 3 through 6 are to guide you through the process with your team.

1. Make the Case: Why Now?

What's the impetus for this initiative? Why does it make sense for now in the timeline? 

2. What's In It For You?

What is here for you to learn, as the leader? What change is this situation calling forth in you, personally? 

3. Decision Time

This is the point where you make the initiative explicit to your team. You demarcate the past and the future by drawing a "line in the sand" and articulating the initiative you're going to lead the team through. The thinking you've done on item one — on why now — gets shared. Also, be intentional about giving your initiative a name. That helps give something intangible some structure.

For example, if you want to inspire high performance, you might say, "Ok everyone, we're entering 2025 and I've been thinking about how we could grow as a team. I know our work challenges us when it comes to prioritization, and I've talked with some of you about ways you could work more closely with each other. I'd like to call this effort ‘Operation Priorities’ and I'm excited for us to be able to learn together.”

Or, consider leading a conversation where the team – rather than you alone – identifies the ways it wants to develop together and come up with the name itself! 

4. Level Set on Skills

Often, for a team to work together in new ways, team leaders need to learn new skills. Consider your ability to build alignment and consensus, run meetings, clearly frame, scope, and solve issues, etc. Which of these skill sets does your team also need?

5. Apply Those Skills to the Situation

Once you have the key skills in place, apply those to the situation with your team. Stay committed over time to the change you're leading (You may feel like a broken record), and keep working it in an explicit way with the team. 

6. Keep it Alive

Keep an eye toward how the changes you are initiating are going to integrate into the fabric of your team and organization and bring enough value such that they sustain themselves.

Using an intentional framework to guide your next leadership initiative can support you in communicating the project or change effort well. The framework can help you stay on track and make sure you're considering important aspects like why now, and how will you and your team keep this alive and ensure it's not just a fad.