Students struggle with setting goals and prioritizing them. Start with a meeting: * Discuss Habit 2: beginning with the end in mind: what do you want others to say about your leadership at the year-end banquet. * Discuss the value of soliciting goals from team members rather than suggesting goals to them (see email below). People are more invested in achieving goals *they* suggested. * Discuss prioritizing activities using the urgent/important matrix. Provide these links: * https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_91.htm * https://www2.usgs.gov/humancapital/documents/TimeManagementGrid.pdf * Go through some examples to help students understand the appropriate level of detail * goals must be clear and unambiguous * goals must be detailed enough to be actionable * you should be able to tell if and how well you met your goals Follow up with an email: Dear student leaders, As we've discussed, for any team to work effectively, everyone must understand and share a set of common goals and priorities. In our last meeting, we reviewed how leaders can work with their teams to develop goals and priorities. Please meet with your team to develop a set of goals for Fall training; later you should meet with them again to develop goals for build season preparation, build season, and post-season activities. As we discussed, do '''not''' suggest goals for your team, instead meet with each individual team member and ask them to suggest goals; most team members will suggest the same or similar goals - they will be much more invested in achieving goals they have suggested themselves. Aggregate the goals into a written list, adding any of your own, and then meet with your team to discuss them and narrow the list (if needed). Then work together to prioritize the goals into high/medium/low priority. Try to build consensus around priorities and vote if consensus can't be found; your team will by much more committed to goals and priorities they share and helped develop. Publish the goals and priorities for your team on this wiki. They should serve as a decision making compass throughout the season, helping you and the students determine whether their activities are important and advancing the team's shared goals. Being able to point to the common goals and priorities will help everyone stay focused on the right things and will make your job as leader much easier. Good luck and feel free to ask questions! Follow up with another meeting: * Ask leads/captains to bring 3-6 written high-level goals, developed with their team * Discuss the urgent/important matrix * Discuss the goals: * Where does each goal fit in the urgent/important matrix? * Did many students suggest the same goals? * How did the goals line up with the goals you would have suggested? * Are the goals clear, actionable, measurable? * Discuss the process: * Did the students add some good goals you had not previously considered? * Do you think the team is more aligned with and committed to the goals having participated in developing them? * What issues/conflicts did you encounter and how did you resolve them (review decision styles)? * Do the goals fit into some of the larger team goals: * Rookies should go home with new knowledge and wanting to come back next year * Training new students to take over roles and responsibilities currently held by juniors/seniors