Team Charter and Ground Rules

7-Step Project Manager

The First Step in Creating High Performing Teams

A good set of ground rules, or team charter, is a key element in developing a high performing team. Ground rules make sure everyone understands what is expected of them and what is acceptable behavior. This may sound a little simplistic, but it really is an important step in developing a team.

Surprisingly, this is especially important for smaller teams. Most people think that the smaller the team, the more likely the team is to function well with little formal guidance or structure. But smaller teams operate with less buffer between individuals, and contrasting styles and expectations can be magnified.

The purpose of a team charter is to establish ground rules for acceptable behavior, guidelines for decision-making, expectations for meeting participation, and a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities for each member of the team. Following are some suggestions for what to put in a basic, simple set of ground rules. Best practices recommend to keep the document as short as possible to get the job done so that people will use it!

Starting with a statement of purpose makes sure the team understands its focus and mission.  Often this isn't really necessary, but this statement helps more often than you would think.  

After the statement of purpose, add a table containing each team member’s name and contact information, including email address and telephone number. It’s always nice to have this in one place. If the meeting environment is virtual, be sure to include the contact information relating to that environment. For example, if Skype is used for meetings, be sure this section includes Skype user names. If Google hangouts is used, be sure to include Google hangout user names. The same applies to GoToMeeting, WebEx, or any collaboration application. In addition to the table, clearly identify when the team will be meeting so that there is no confusion about the battle rhythm for the team.  Calendar invites work well. 

After collecting the team's contact information, and establishing the meeting times and method, the next step is to create a "Responsibility Matrix." This is one of the most important parts of the ground rules.  It is a list of everything the team is supposed to deliver, and who is ultimately responsible for each item.  In the more formal world of Project Management, this is a "deliverables breakdown structure", with a team member assigned to every item. (Over the years, my teams have told me this is one of the two most important features of the ground rules. The second one is described below.)  It lets every team member know up front what their responsibilities are and helps them focus on their contributions to the effort.  This is a huge benefit to people who like to get work done ahead of time!!!

Next should come a description of expectations for completing the work. This includes when the work should be submitted to the team for review prior to submission, and what the subsequent review and submittal processes are for this work.

Finally, a team charter should always detail the expectations for submitting work on time, attending meetings, and so forth.  It should also clearly define the conditions under which a team member might be ejected from the team.  (This is the second "most important feature" of the ground rules as mentioned above.) Agreeing ahead of time on what constitutes "ejectionable" behavior is remarkably motivating to "slackers."  The last thing a slacker wants is to be kicked off a team, because that requires even MORE work to redeem their reputation!

Team charters can be a single page or multiple pages, whatever suits the team.  Below is an example charter created in one of my classes that ties together all of the steps described above. 

Team Charter and Ground Rules for High Performing Teams

In summary, while creating a set of team ground rules may seem like a lot of work in the short term, it actually saves work in the long term. A team without ground rules is often unfocused and inefficient.  A team with a good set of ground rules is usually a focused, high-performing team. 

-- Dr. Bill Carswell, PMP

Please use the comments feedback area below to let us know your thoughts.  Do you find team ground rules to be useful?  Have you ever used them?  What do you think they should look like?  7stepPM readers want to know!

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