Simple 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 the 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 and certainty for the expected behaviors.

1. Rules of Thumb to Remember
   • Use language that is simple and positive.
   • Limit the number of Agreements – less is more.
   • The best Working Agreements are established by the group that will use them.
   • Post Working Agreements in the team’s work area.
   • Refer to Working Agreements in each meeting.
   • Measure the team’s use of the Working Agreements – individually AND collectively.
2. Categories for 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 will 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. Multiple processes are available for a team’s consideration when establishing Working Agreements. Here is one option.
   1. Need Identification: What’s Bugging You?
      • Use index cards, 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.)
      • Chart the group’s “Bugs” looking for commonalities and ensuring understanding.
   2. Language Selection and Clarification: We Will
      • 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.”
      • Use clean language. 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.
   3. Group Commitment: All In
      • Work toward team agreement of the ideas or concepts of the Working Agreements.
      • 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.
      • Post a copy of the Working Agreements in the team’s work area.
      • 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 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?