ABSTRACT
No group of people is likely to be effective unless it knows what it wants to achieve. As a West Country friend often remarks ‘People need to know where they be to’. The first step in achievement is usually realizing what it is we want to achieve; usually an intelligent group of people is capable of devising its own methods providing the members are clear on the desired outcome. But having clear objectives and agreed goals is more than just knowing what the outcomes need to be. People are only likely to be committed to objectives if they also feel some identity with and ownership for them, in other words if objectives and goals are discussed and agreed by team members. Often this agreement is difficult to achieve but experience tells us that it is an essential prerequisite of the effective team and that hence it is worth a great deal of trouble to get it right.
