“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”
Katzenbach and Smith (2015) The Wisdom of Teams
I find this such a helpful description of a team! It is simple, clear, and explicit about what distinguishes a team from other groups – such as departments, informal groups, and communities.
It has a common purpose, performance goals, and an approach. For which they are mutually accountable.
So these elements are understood by all team members, and they are part of a shared agreement.
The only way that I know to make sure that these things will be clear and understood by everyone in the team is to make them explicit!
And that’s why the Team Charter is such a helpful tool. It provides a format that supports making these elements explicit, helping a new team (or a team that is refreshing itself), with a structured format to reach agreement on the essential building blocks for team effectiveness.
I’ve developed a handy tool that you can use to support your team to have a “Team Chartering Conversation.” I outline six core areas, and provide prompter questions that you can use in the team discussion.
Download the “Charter the Team” resource and set your team on its way to success.