It’s all about how you define things.
Five years into my marriage I stumbled across a concept in an article while reading a magazine in a doctors office.
Not only did this concept create a defining moment in our marriage but I’ve gone on with great success implementing its practice in every other part of my life.
Working with others well is contingent on the team sharing a goal.
And that goal needs to be well defined and that definition needs to be shared and understood.
Here’s the exercise plain and simple.
Pick a Topic
Each team member writes down their definition of the Topic.
In my case, my wife and I defined LOVE.
We both wrote down the top ten things we thought defined love.
I wrote down words like loyalty, empathy, grace while my wife wrote down sense of humor, kind, funny.
We folded up our answers and shared them with each other. It was at that moment I realized our definitions didn’t match and I was shocked at first. But an amazing thing happened, we spent quality time discussing our definitions and expectations. And then we started defining all kinds of things and working through those definitions together. Knowing how she defined things gave me direct access to understanding her needs. It also allowed me to compare, compromise and adjust my definitions to allow the team to become more cohesive.
Defining a shared goal created a clear understanding of each others motivations, fears, voice and vision.
Streamlining our efforts by cutting back on misconceptions, assumptions and perceptions that are often lost in translation.
Great relationships contain great definitions which lead towards incredible goals that define our purpose.
Shared purpose creates one of the most amazing things ever.
Synergy.
