Many of issues that prevent teams from achieving the desired results can be eliminated if the team members understand what is expected.  This can be handled by sharing expectations and helping the team members communicate with each other. 

The sharing of expectations can take a variety of forms.  I used a seven step process consisting of:

1. Having each team member introduce himself or herself in the team meetings
2. Allowing each team member to explain his or her role
3. Discussing issues which had arisen previously on similar projects
4. Helping other team members understand why the issues were harmful to the organization
5. Sharing how the team member’s success would be measured
6. Explaining what conditions would exist if the project were successful from the perspective of that team member and his or her organization
7. Documenting what each team member said so that the team would have a record of what each person said

Some use team charters to support this type of approach.  I simply recorded the information in the typed meeting notes that were provided to team members within 24 hours after each virtual team meeting.  Two challenges with this approach are that the team leader can end up with a lot of responsibility for keeping the team on task and, if a question arises, there may be many sets of meeting notes to review. 

Last fall, we used a workbook by Sandra Deacon Carr, Ellan Herman, Sandra Zarotney Keldsen, Jeffrey Miller, and Particia Arkinstall Wakefield entitled The Team Learning Assistant Workbook.  The 63 page workbook is a nice tool, by the way.  It actually contained a template for a team contract.  I hadn’t considered a team contract per se until I saw that they had actually developed a template. 

When I saw the template, I had some immediate upgrades.  Here is my enhanced version of a team contract:    

1. Name of the team and all team members 
2. Why the team is being created or what is to be accomplished
3. What the team members expect of each other
4. The rules for interacting and the process that the team members will use (attendance, preparation, communication, expectations, authorizations, etc). 
5. Roles and responsibilities of each team member from a functional perspective, integrating the team with the person’s normal job.  (The goal is to make sure that each person completes the sentence, ”my job is to make sure that our team __________________.”)
6. Project parameters (budget, timeline, performance metrics, force budget, priorization)
7. Identification any alternates in case an issue arises and the primary person is unavailable
8. Contact information for each team member
9. Expected action steps and anticipated timeline for the project

The team members usually have different priorities and expectations.  The negotiation should identify areas on which such differences exist and are relevant.  Then, find solutions that meet the needs of all participants. 

Filed by Coleen Davis at 9:34 pm under Negotiations, Solving Problems, Team Building