“…like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L. Doctorow
Most folks I’ve connected with this week are feeling both excited and a bit fuzzy about the year ahead. If you feel like you’re “driving at night in the fog,” here are three tips for keeping your team moving forward through the uncertainty of what lies ahead.
- Set shorter-term goals
Weekly (or daily) goals will keep your team focused on the concrete actions they can control. Achievable goals also meet the psychological need for accomplishment, which is energizing.
And don’t just set goals – give everyone an opportunity to announce their accomplishment (or ask for help) in a weekly status call. If your team is scattered around the globe, the weekly check-in can done as a thread in Slack, Teams, email, Monday.com, or whatever communication platform your team uses on a daily basis.
- Focus on “finishing”
Free up the team’s cognitive bandwidth by focusing them on completing tasks or projects. Prioritize those tasks/projects that are closest to being done – the “90%-ers.” Having a long list of “almost done’s” is de-energizing and complicates the process of moving ahead on anything new. (I speak from experience!)
“Finishing” can also mean deciding that something isn’t going to get done. If that’s the case, say so publicly and get it off everyone’s plate.
- Experiment
Not sure whether to do X or Y (or Z)? Test the ideas by getting customer input.
- Do low-fidelity mockups, and ask customers for feedback.
- If you have the bandwidth and budget, run pilots of each option.
- Even if you only run a thought experiment on a white board, invite a customer (or other outsider) to participate in that process.
- Use PickFU (Pick for You) to get rapid input from anonymous panelists.
The important thing is to maintain forward momentum. Each step you take will reveal the options for the step after that. And bit-by-bit, you and your team will find yourselves making progress through the uncertainty. Chances are you’ll also find other folks eager to join you.
Want to share your own tips for maintaining team morale and momentum? Please send a message through the Contact page, and I’ll get back to you about sharing it here.
Have a great weekend!
