Team Development Update - How to Develop a Team Charter.

---

Team Charters are documents which act like road maps. Your charter should be a one page document that clearly defines the purpose of the team, how it will work, and what the expected outcomes are. A team charter ensures that everyone on the team is heading in the same direction and helps to clarify things if the going gets tough.
Common elements include:

1. Purpose
   This sets out why the team was formed. It should answer the questions:
• What are we here for?
• What is our unique distinctive mission in our organisation?
  


2. Vision
   This sets out where a team will be in a certain point in the future. It should answer the questions:
• What will our business be like 3-5 years from now?
• What kinds of projects will we be focussed on?
• Who will our customers be?
• How will we be delivering our services?
• What type of work environment do we want?
• What goals will we have met by then?
• What will be our team’s special areas of expertise?
  


3. Goals and Measures of Success
   Having defined the vision, achievable goals need to be set. Use SMART Goals. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Make sure each goal can be measured and its success monitored.
   


4. Critical timelines
   Ensure that timelines set within your goals are achievable. Identify a critical timeline path so that there will not be hold-ups for other people on the team.
   


5. Roles within the team
   Who is doing what within the team?
• Look at your goals and ensure the team has people with the skills to achieve these.
• Develop clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member. This should include clearly defined leadership roles.
• Ensure that the roles match people's skills.
  


6. Team values
   Ensure you set out agreed ground rules for behaviours.
   


7. How and when progress will be reviewed?
   • Set a schedule for monitoring of progress.
   • Set a timetable for progress meetings and expectations for those meetings. e.g. everyone will be expected to give a brief status report on their part of the work at a Monday morning meeting.
   • Ensure the results of the progress review are circulated back to other team members.

Set up a team charter today, get everyone on board and you will have set up your team for success.

Need some help with developing your team charter or building a team? Email us for more information about Nexus Partners' team development programmes, or call on 0800 4 LEADERS. More information is also available online.