Team Goals and Expectations
Team Name:
Team goals and expectation create a common understanding of what the team hopes to achieve and what
attitudes and behaviours will create a team environment that will allow for the achievement of those goals.
Team Goals: The SMART acronym provides a way to create clear, high quality team goals. SMART stands for
goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time‐bounded (Cannon & Griffith, 2007).
 Specific goals are clear and unambiguous. For example, the goal of ‘ensure that the patient’s goals are
actively addressed in the conference’ has more specificity than ‘hold a patient‐centered conference.’
 Measurable goals “are defined in such a way that allows concrete and objective assessment as to
whether and how the goal has been attained.” Not all goals can be measured numerically, but teams
should have a clear picture of how they will know if the goal has been achieved. For example, the
success of the goal ‘ensure that the patient’s goals are actively addressed in the conference’ could be
measured by requesting feedback on that aspect of their performance from the standardized patient,
facilitators, or the observing team.
 Attainable goals “are those that require a stretch from group members, but are still within the group’s
reach. Goals that are too ambitious risk not being taken seriously. Insufficiently ambitious goals may
fail to challenge or engage a group” (Hackman, 2002).
 Relevant goals “are perceived to be within the ability and responsibility of the group.” Goals must be
relevant to the context, and to the team.
 Time‐bounded goals “need to be linked to a schedule and have time limits.” In the case of this course,
goals are already bounded by what can be done by the end of the SP interview (Cannon, 2007, p. 82).
Team Expectations: Team expectations should be concrete and directly relate to the achievement of team
goals. For example, if the team’s goal is to have equal participation on team projects from all team members,
as defined by the team, then some team expectations might include:
 The team note-taker or recorder will produce and circulate notes from each team meeting.
 Each team member will complete their expected contribution, and seek help where necessary.
Team goals and expectations also require mechanisms through which the expectations will be met. For
example, if the team’s goal is equal contributions from each team member on major projects, and a team
member is not fulfilling their contribution, then the team may choose to give feedback to that team member. If
that method of feedback is ineffective, then the team might choose to bring the issue forward to the section
facilitators.
References
Cannon, M. D., & Griffith, B. A. (2007). Effective groups: Concepts and skills to meet leadership challenges. Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.
Hackman, J. R. (2002). Leading teams: Setting the stage for great performances. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School
Press.
Team Goals and Expectations
Team Name:
Team Goals: what does the team hope to accomplish?
1.
2.
3.
Team Expectations: what expectations of the team
members will support team goals?
Steps to be taken if expectations are not met.