Background - Why does your project exist and how does success look

Background - Why does your project exist and how does success look like?

While equally important, a team‘s purpose and its goals are not the same thing. A purpose answers the question: why does our project exist? The specific goals and work products make the purpose concrete and define success
A team’s purpose represents an overarching aspiration that fosters identification and accountability, facilitates goal setting, simplifies communication and is a resource for framing action and team behaviors. A team’s purpose ideally integrates an organizations mission and individual motivations
Goals translate the purpose into specific, concrete milestones and objectives. They channel energy, help identify individual contributions, foster communication, neutralize differences in status and rank, allow celebrating successes and support resolution of conflict

The following literature is cited in this section:

Edmondson, A. C. (2012). Teamwork on the Fly. Harvard Business Review. 90(4). Rashid, F. et al (2013). Leadership Lessons from the Chilean Mine Rescue. Harvard Business Review. 91(4)