Aim First

The old adage of “ready, aim, fire” is a pretty good approach if you’re working with a bow and arrow. However, I’m not so convinced that it’s the right strategy for achieving organizational success in nearly every way you can define it.

Here’s why.

All groups have priorities. They can stem from a fusion of your business strategy and your organization’s purpose, or from something that animates both.

Until you know what you’re aiming to achieve, you can neither ready your team nor fire at the true target.

Most teams will end up with a few priorities — ideally three-to-five. The best performing teams place the health of their team dynamics at the top of the list. Google knows this from a 2-year study of best performing teams called Project Aristotle. This surfaces a truth that great teams know: their first priority is creating and sustaining a healthy team. When they dedicate to their relational health, all else will follow.

Questions for you:

• Does your team know its priorities? Have they placed their group health atop the list?
• Have you readied your team to commit to their relational health?
• Has your leadership set the conditions for a healthy culture to sustain itself?

---

P.S. In my talk at HR WEST I’ll be covering the 10 Things that People-First Companies Do. From the talk I’m building a whitepaper on the topic, which I’m happy to share with you. If you would like to receive the whitepaper, simply drop me an email at: steven@matterco.co