Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

* * *

No matter how big or small your team or what its goal is, there are four essentials it needs to succeed. As a leader, it’s your job to help your group create and adhere to each of these:

o A meaningful common purpose. Most teams are responding to a mandate. But to be successful, your team must “own” this purpose by developing its own spin on it.

o Specific performance goals. Develop measurable goals to inspire your team and inject a sense of urgency. Shared goals require everyone to focus on their collective effort, rather than on differences in titles or status.

o Commitment to how the work gets done. At the onset, agree on who will do what jobs, how you will establish and honor schedules, and how you will make and modify decisions.

o Mutual accountability. You can’t force trust and commitment. By agreeing upon purpose and goals, your team members forge their accountability to one another — not just to the leader.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from the HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across.

To check out that book and join the discussion, please click here.

http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-managing-up-and-across/an/11218-PBK-ENG?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip052313&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip052313

Also, you may wish to check out an anthology, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, by clicking here.