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Aim
Providing direction is not only about clarifying where you are going, but also how you are going to get there. Use this exercise with your team to formulate a set of basic principles and standards for working together in order to create a supportive and productive team environment.
This participative exercise encourages team members to discuss and agree the values and behaviors important to them when working together to achieve team goals and individual objectives. It will take around 50 minutes to complete.
Team members will be able to…
- understand the importance of good working relationships and mutual cooperation for effective teamwork
- underpin the values and behaviors that are important to the team
- draw up a mutually agreed contract for applying these values
- understand the importance of sticking to the agreed contract
Creating a mutually agreed team contract or set of ground rules can be useful in various team situations. It can help to change behaviors in a team that is experiencing problems working together, for example, when: the team is unclear of its purpose; team members are not sure what is expected of them; or, there is conflict, aggression or lack of cooperation or commitment.
The contract can also be helpful for new teams, in establishing a clear mutual understanding of how they will work together from the oustet, and clarifying to new team members in an existing team what is expected of them. The ‘team contract’ uses the strength of the team to encourage individuals to work cooperatively with each other.
Preparation
Prepare a flipchart with a circle in the middle containing the words ‘Our Team Contract’.
Place large Post-it notes around the room.
Suggested Resources
- task sheet (see below)
- Post-it notes and felt-tipped pens
- flipchart
What to Do (25 minutes)
Introduce the concept of developing mutually agreed contracts of team behavior as a method of ensuring effective team cooperation and performance, then explain the aim, learning objectives and format of the exercise. This will take about five minutes.
Split the team into subgroups of three or four and hand out the task sheet.
Ask team members to think of statements to sum up the values and behaviors they feel are important for working together. Suggestions might include: trust and respect; recognizing each others’ strengths; supporting each other; achieving goals; personal and collective responsibility; communication and information sharing.
The groups should allocate a member to write each of these on separate Post-it notes and stick them on the flipchart.
There may be some overlapping of statements. After the groups have finished sticking all of their ideas onto the flipchart, sort these into clusters of similar topics. You can coordinate the clustering while team members suggest groupings. Each of these topics will form a ‘clause’ of the contract.
Review (15 minutes)
Bring the team back together and review each ‘clause’ of the contract. Are there any areas that appear to be of particular importance to the team? Discuss the reasons behind all of the statements and their importance for creating effective teamwork.
Ensure that the whole team agrees on each of the ‘clauses’ and make any necessary adjustments. The finished contract should be agreed by concensus.
Apply (10 minutes)
Once the contract has been agreed, explain the importance of applying it to the way they work as a team. Encourage team members to refer to it regularly to remind themselves of how they agreed to work together.
It may be an idea to type it up and circulate it to team members so that they have their own record of what they have agreed.
Making it Stick
As a team, it is vital to review and update the contract on a regular basis to ensure that it remains in keeping you’re your purpose, values and objectives. You could do this at team meetings.
Our Team Values – Task Sheet
Working effectively together means sharing the same basic principles of behavior. This exercise will help you to develop a mutually agreed ‘team contract’, containing the ground rules of how you will work together as a team.
Task
- Take around 20 minutes to think of the values and behaviors that you feel are important for working together effectively as a team. Come up with as many or as few as you think necessary.
- Areas for consideration may include: meetings, decision-making, communication, dealing with customers, workload, rotas, break times, team objectives or inter-team relationships. Examples of ground rules for team behavior/values might be ‘team members with low workloads will offer to help those who are more busy’, or ‘all meetings will start and finish on time’, or ‘team members will be open and honest with each other’.
- Allocate a group member to write each of the ideas on the large Post-it® notes provided and stick them onto the flipchart entitled ‘Our Team Contract’.
- Be prepared to discuss what the statements mean to you as a team, make any necessary adjustments, and come to a mutual agreement on the clauses to be included in the contract.
