Team Workshop

Quantifying a Team Goal

Start by setting a team goal
Team challenge: Team Goal
60-90 minutes
3-20 people
Remote & on-site

Background

Once a team has agreed on a common goal it is necessary to quantify it in order to succeed. Quantifying a team goal creates structure and lays out all the components of the goal for everyone to see. Part of this is being aware of any barriers and challenges that may occur – thinking of the worst case scenario (pre-mortem) – and how to possibly overcome those. Not only will this help build trust within each team member because they already thought of solutions but also help to prevent problems from occurring.

Note: In order to quantify a team goal, a team goal must have been set beforehand. If your team has not set a team goal or found the “why” yet, make sure you do the workshop “Setting a team goal” first.



Team workshop instructions

Preparation

  • Moderation cards
  • Space to group the moderation cards (e.g whiteboard or floor)
  • Look at the SMART Criteria (Step 3) and think about how to explaint the concept to your team. Make sure in the workshop everyone is able to see the SMART Criteria (Poster or Whiteboard)


Check-In (5 minutes)

  • Welcome the team and introduce the workshop
  • You can do a short warm-up to establish trust and include everyone from the beginning (e.g. let everyone talk about their highlight of the day).

Overview:You will go through various criteria in order to make your team goal measurable and consider challenges that might occur.

Goal: Learning how to measure the progress towards the goal you’ve set earlier.


Step 1 (5 minutes)

  • Set the stage: State the current team goal and make sure it’s visible for everyone at all times.


Step 2 (10 minutes)

Identify key results

While the primary team goal is your qualitative objective, you need to make sure to have quantitative key results to measure your progress transparently in your team.

  • Select the most important quantitative key results that help your team to understand your progress.

  • Ask your team members the following questions

    What are smaller goals that are part of the main goal?

    What are the key results that we want to see in order to know we reached that goal?

  • Decide on max. 3 key results / smaller goals that lead to the main goal and write them down.


Step 3 (10 minutes per key criteria)

Check for smart criteria

  • Test these (max. 3) key results against the SMART criteria by thinking about how specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely they are. Use the questions below.
  • Important: The questions are just an orientation. It’s not necessary to answer all of them for each key result. Have the questions in mind, but only discuss the aspects that need clarification.
  • Have somebody take notes and write down the results.

Are the goals:


Specific Think about the 5 “W-questions”:
  1. Who is involved in this goal?
  2. What do I want to accomplish?
  3. Where is this goal to be achieved?
  4. When do I want to achieve this goal?
  5. Why do I want to achieve that goal?
e.g. “Increase my sales in this company by 10% in 90 days to challenge myself.”

Measurable

To make a goal measurable think about:
  • How many/ much?
  • How do I know I reached my goal?
  • What is my indicator of progress? ( tracking programs, lists, analytical data, performance measures, revenues,…) e.g. “Every month I will aim to increase sales by 4%. “


Achievable
  • Do I have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal?
  • If not, what am I missing?
  • Is it realistic to achieve it?


Relevant
  • Why is this key result relevant for the main goal?
  • Why is it important for the team to achieve it?
  • Are you able to commit to achieving the goal?


Timely
  • What is the timeline?
  • Do we have a deadline for when certain tasks need to be done?
  • By when do we want to achieve the goal?


Step 4 (15-20 minutes)

Pre-mortem

Now that everyone has a clear idea of what the refined key results are and how to measure them, it’s time to think about possible challenges and barriers that could occur and possible solutions.

  • Ask your team the following questions

    What is the worst case scenario that could happen?

    What would the situation look like if everything goes wrong?

    What and how could things go wrong? 


    Have everyone think about it and write it down. (5 minutes) .
  • One team member then shares their worst case scenario.
  • Let other team members add their ideas to create a list of all the things they could think of.
  • Write down every aspect as detailed as possible (e.g. the file could be deleted and all the data would be gone).


Step 5 (15-20 minutes)

Counteracting risks & Round-up

  • Now have everyone think about possible solutions for every aspect and have them write it down. (5 minutes)
  • Let a team member share their solution for one aspect and let others add on. Discuss the best solution together.
  • Do this for every aspect and choose one person who writes down the results.
Having this list of possible barriers and their solutions, as well as all the aspects of the goal (smart criteria) accessible for every team member can function as a guideline for how to deal with arising challenges. It is a great help due to the reinsurance it provides.

Ending (10 minutes)

  • Summarize the results.
  • Show how quantifying a team goal and having solutions for possible barriers at hand helps reaching the team goal.

Example: We looked at our team goal and defined key results that show that we are getting closer to reaching that goal. We checked how specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely our smaller goals are. Also we indetified possible barriers and came up with solutions. This helps us to better understand the smaller components of our team goal and their characeristics. Also we know the milestones that show us we are getting closer to reaching our goal, which is very motivating and keeps us on track. Now we are also prepared to face and overcome barriers together. This makes it clear for everyone which steps need to be taken to reach our team goal well and in time.


First Aid ⛑🩹

Didn’t go as expected? Check out the following tips.

  • The team can’t agree on some aspects of the SMART criteria (e.g. when the goal should be reached)

    This applies to all apsects oft the SMART criteria: listen to everyone’s arguments, value their thoughts and make democratic decisions. This could be due to very diverse tasks the team members are responsible for. They focus more on their everyday work than on the bigger picture. Encourage them to remeber while the team was created and to find goals that include everybodays work.

  • No satisfying solutions for some barriers could be found

    Make sure the barrier is still realistic, even though it’s worst case (e.g.: strikes by meteorites are probably no realistic threat)

    In case barriers exist that cannot be overcome at all and would keep you from reaching the goal: maybe rethink at least some aspects of your goal. Sometimes changing the goal slightly can help to make it more reachable.
More team workshops for "Team Goal"

Got curious?

Discover other team workshops

Role Clarity

Reflect on your Team Role

Analyse internal customer-supplier-relationships across teams to improve Role Clarity
50-75
5-20
Mindset

Increasing Self-Awareness

Improve your mindset by increasing awareness
45-50
2-10
Commitment

Attention Training

Improve commitment by paying closer attention to others
50-70
10-20
Mindset

Everyday Mindset Examples

Improve your mindset by becoming aware of it
33-45
3-10
Commitment

Individual Goal Setting

Improve commitment by setting goals
45-70
3-9
Communication

Active Listening

Improve communication by listening
35-45
5-15

Leave your email and get updates on new workshops in the future!

Echomat.org | Fun. Effective. Team Workshops.

© 2023 by Echometer GmbH

You have a workshop in mind that we should add?
Propose a new workshop & get featured!

Propose workshop