Set Achievable Goals

Like all great competitors, many gamers like to think they are the best, each and every time they pick up their controllers. It's great to be confident, but people are not always experts without having ample time to practice, train, and prepare for some of the challenges that lie ahead. A perfect example of this is when everyone rushed out to get their copy of Halo 3. Some people went right to the multiplayer mode and other right for the story. 

Given this is people's first look at the new game, it's important to have realistic expectations of what you hope to achieve. It would probably not be in a new player's best interest to hop right into the Legendary mode, but rather to play on an easy mode, get their bearings and learn how to use their character, weapons, etc. Setting realistic expectations will get you much further on in the game, and build up the basic framework for you to increase the difficulty and achieve loftier goals down the road.

Milestones are vital to the team's process (and to getting paid!) They ensure that a product is delivered to specification (and customer satisfaction), that team members adhere to schedules and budgets, and quality standards are met. They also tend to be the basis for individual and team rewards over and above normal compensation.

Team goals might include:

• Increasing productivity in a manufacturing environment
• Improving production quality of production
• Involving more (all) employees in decision-making to increase job satisfaction
• Reviewing systems and practices to reduce wasted time and money
• Working with customers to build closer relationships and understand market needs
• Design and produce software

Motivate your team to reach specific goals by describing the ultimate set of targets as challenges that can be met through a combination of skills and effort. You can also increase team motivation by allowing members to design their own targets, at least to some extent. Give them a chance to debate and discuss how personal goals can be met and possibly exceeded. While it's good to discuss compensation for outstripping goals, monitor this very carefully because in some companies discussing salaries can result in immediate dismissal. Try to gage it in terms of the team and project rather than bonus checks!

The greatest challenge you can present is the "stretch" goal, a target that can be achieved only by using skills that extend the team's current capabilities. Before you set a stretch target be sure you can deliver what you promise in terms of team performance and compensation. Ideally, this will provide a set of subsidiary targets that can be broken down into individual goals and tasks.

Reaching a milestone, stretch or not, involves a plan. If the plan is failing, and the goals and/or milestones are likely to be missed, you need to quickly diagnose the problem and fix it. Work with the team to analyze the issue until you have pinpointed the problem. Decide as a group how to solve it, then implement the solution. Reestablish a new set of amended goals now that the scope of the project has changed. This may be more motivating than any previous plan because the team is solving the problem together: the revised plan improves on the original.

Purpose: What is your team supposed to be doing?  The question may sound obvious, but time spent at the beginning of a project defining team objectives is crucial to a successful outcome. Make sure you have clearly established the issues that the team needs to resolve.

Schedule: Set realistic deadlines (remember to multiply all estimates by 1.5 to allow for unforeseen obstacles and a tendency on anyone's part, including yours, to think you can get the work done faster.) Don't promise the sky unless the team (a) agrees and (b) can reasonably deliver on the promise.

Goals: Break down goals, targets and milestones into manageable bites that should be quantifiable and designed to complete the project in a timely and cost efficient manner.

Constraints: Realistically assess how much autonomy the team should have. Without creating (or augmenting) an adversarial situation, determine where the "external" (upper management and client) obstacles might be and create contingency plans to deal with them.

Priorities: Assess the order in which key project elements must be completed. Client needs almost always come first and you may need to act as liaison if you have a particularly demanding client, which might take you away from some other task vital to the team's success.

Costs: Insofar as you're responsible for any portion of the project budget, remember to include everything -- salaries, additional resources, capital expenses, depreciation, overtime and if possible some allotment for team building. Then add a cushion and multiply the whole thing by 1.5.

Drawing up common aims and agreeing on individual roles when a team is set up is only the beginning of a process that needs to remain relevant and achievable as long as the team exists.