With today’s standard of accomplishing our work with others, increased collaboration and higher expectations for team success are the norm. And, one thing we’ve learned for sure, is that many teams are operating without agreements about how they will work together to navigate the high demands required in today’s work environment. The Working Agreements of a group can distinguish whether it functions as a high-performing team or whether it is just a loose collection of people working together.

That being said, we are approaching the time of year where teams are starting up again. I said it that way because this is where we often get in trouble with assumptions. We assume that people know how to work in teams, especially when the team has not changed since the previous year. Dangerous! New year, time to refocus and revisit our agreements. Also true is that any time team composition changes, it’s back to zero with regard to the agreements of the team.

Ways to Establish Working Agreements

What are Working Agreements and why are they important? Working Agreements serve as parameters or boundaries intended to guide interactions in a group setting. They are the standards or expectations by which individuals or groups agree to operate while working together. Working Agreements help to maximize productivity in a positive setting. They are a reflection of the group’s expectations for working behaviors. Explicit agreements are designed to promote interaction patterns that respect the individual while increasing the productivity and effectiveness of the group. Along with that, they promote group responsibility for the expected behaviors. In her book, Dare to Lead, Brené Brown gives us the concept of “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” Bottom line: When we have certainty (clarity) around how we are going to be as we work together, we are more purposeful and productive.

There are a few “Rules of Thumb” for a team to consider when creating agreements for the first time.

1. Rules of Thumb

• When created, language that is simple and positive is preferred.
• The number of Agreements is limited – less is more.
• The best Working Agreements are established by the group that will use them.
• Working Agreements are posted in the team’s work area.
• Attention is given to Working Agreements in each meeting.
• The team measures their use of the Working Agreements – individually AND collectively.

2. Categories for consideration when creating Working Agreements

• Time – What is our agreement about attendance and full presence; about beginning and ending times?
• Listening and Speaking – What patterns of listening and speaking will support team collaboration and the presence of group thinking over individual thinking?
• Being Prepared – What is our standard for being prepared?
• Keeping Promises – What is our expectation for moving the work forward; for following up with the commitments we have made?
• Mindset – What behaviors and attitudes will best support our work as a team?
• Decision-Making – How will we make our decisions?
• Confidentiality – What is our Agreement with regard to how we want to treat the confidential nature of our work?
• Conflict – Knowing that conflict is inevitable when change is required, how will we plan for and anticipate how we will deal with conflict or different points of view when they show up in our work?

3. Process for Establishing Working Agreements

Basic steps to be considered in establishing Working Agreements are need identification, language selection and clarification, and group commitment. Any number of processes are available for a team’s consideration when establishing Working Agreements. Here is one option.

• Need Identification: What’s Bugging You?
  1. Use an index card asking each team member to individually identify the top 3-5 team behaviors that “bug” them. (e.g., side bar conversations, texting or checking social media, not following through, etc.
  2. Chart the group’s “Bugs” looking for commonalities and ensuring understanding.

• Language Selection and Clarification: Words Matter
  1. Work from the lens of “What Do We Want to Do About It?” and reframe the negative into a positive using this stem, “We will . . .”  For example, side bar conversations may become, “We will talk one person at a time.” or “Because all points of view are valued, we will talk one person at a time.”
  2. Clarify any abstract language such as “trust” or “respect” by creating a t-chart of what “the word” looks and sounds like when we as a team are doing it. Clean language is important. This means that all group members understand the intent of the language. The team’s attention to the language at this point will make it easier to talk about hard things when they arise.

• Group Commitment: All In
  1. Work toward team agreement of the ideas or concepts of the Working Agreements.
  2. Verify commitment to the Working Agreements. One strategy for checking commitment is to ask team members for their level of commitment on a five-point scale with #1 being low and #5 being full commitment. Tweak the language until there is full commitment on all Agreements.
  3. Post a copy of the Working Agreements in the team work area.
  4. Refer to the Working Agreements in each team meeting.

Whether they are called Norms, Agreements, or Covenants to Excellence, a high-performing team is intentional about the development of working agreements. Being explicit about the Agreements (“clear is kind”) increases the level of effectiveness, produces a positive environment focused on the work, and helps to socialize visitors or new members to the team. However, Agreements will only stick if the group puts them into practice over and over again. Thus, the hallmark of high-performing teams is that they hold themselves accountable to the Agreements.

What process is your team using to establish strong Agreements for how you will work together?

Reference: Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead