I got an email recently from an organisation in South Africa called Leadership Works. It was about eight questions you can address with your team that will help you have a storming 2014. Here are the eight questions.

1. Why do we exist? What is our main purpose that explains why we call ourselves a team and makes it clear to us and everyone else what we are trying to achieve together?
2. Our advice to ourselves? What are the main lessons we learnt from our successes and mistakes in 2013 and what practical advice do we give ourselves to take into the new-year?
3. What reputation do we have? What are we known for now and what do we want to be famous for by 31 December 2014?
4. What is most important right now? What is the single most important priority that will define success for us in the next 6-9 months and which we must combine all our resources to achieve? State this priority clearly and simply and say how it will be achieved.
5. Are our roles clear and relationships intact? Is it crystal clear who must do what and do we trust and respect each other to get it done?
6. How will we know we are winning? What must we measure and how will this be displayed so everyone can be sure at all times how we are doing?
7. How will we behave? What few behavioural values do we commit to that will guide and bind us tightly together in the next 12 months?
8. What must we stop doing? What projects, priorities, behaviours or beliefs should we say goodbye to – they no longer serve us and detract our attention from what is most important.

Your answers to these questions clarify what you are trying to achieve and why. You can even write up the answers and stick them on your wall or in the coffee area. Leadership Works calls this a Team Performance Charter. Is it part of an operating model? Certainly it will help with the execution of the model.