Making ‘Blended work’ work for you - Team Charters

Previously I posted here about the launch of Enterprise Ireland’s Blended Work pilot and also shared some reflections ahead of that pilot, around my hopes for how our guiding principles and adoption of an agile approach would help us continue to be flexible and honour a human way of working, while also delivering for our Clients and the Irish state.

In this article I share some insights around using a Team Charter approach to help structure conversations at a team level that will set each team up for success. Gartner research around the future of work identified teams as being the foundational building blocks of the new way in which we will work.?It has been well documented that while teams flexed and adjusted to the fully remote environment, adapting to a hybrid mix now brings a different set of challenges. It stands to reason that clear communication and consciously considering both individual and collective team needs, balanced with organisational priorities, are at the heart of this.

Taking time out upfront to consider the ways in which this new work experience will be different and how it will unfold, will set teams up for success. Based on the experience at Enterprise Ireland, where colleagues from our People areas (OD/Communications/HR) have facilitated many such conversations, these tips may help other people professionals embarking on this path:

1. Establish guiding principles for making your blended work a success- in our increasingly complex, fast changing environments, principles give organisations and teams room to manoeuvre and act as a guiding light, rather than tying them up with an overly rigid rules-based process. Remember, blended working and how many days people work from different locations, is only one aspect of flexibility - think what other ways you can facilitate people to access flexibility, such as starting earlier or later to facilitate an easier commute on 'in office' days and enable them to balance their lives.

2. Consider what the Values and behaviours are that will guide this new way you work- use your Values as a guiding light to discuss what good will look like & an aid to keep that conversation going at team level. In EI’s case, getting teams to break out and discuss how they currently live our values so they can truly 'Make a Difference' for our clients, as well as how they can use these values to support us flexing for this different way of working, while still delivering for the Irish state, as we 'Shape the Future', was very powerful.

3. Open your mind- when designing your Team Charter, talk to other organisations further on their path and operating in different environments. What good looks like will differ depending on your context, so remember that one size does not fit all. When I was in my last organisation, hearing the perspective of other HR Leaders in my CIPD Network & gaining the practical insights into what others had done, including colleagues in the ESB , was really helpful & is proof of the value of collaborating & listening to different perspectives. This is a real opportunity for the people profession to build on the important value they added in enabling organisations to respond to the pandemic and really embrace the CIPD professional principles that ‘Work Matters’ and ‘People Matter’.

4. Get started- done is better than perfect, so be brave and dive in! Sketch out a draft Team Charter as a conversation starter. Think about what elements might be most important to different areas of your business and set time aside to work through these. If you're unsure, ask the teams themselves. This may involve having a couple of different versions, so teams can see their operating reality reflected and will see how it can add value to them.

5. Be inclusive- maximise involvement by surveying teams in advance of facilitating workshops. As well as saving time by getting them thinking about their team purpose, it also facilitates colleagues who are introverts to reflect ahead of time, to widen the group contribution. I found this a great way of bringing more voices into the room for my own teams, when we piloted this in May. It also started teams to reflect from an agile perspective- how do we currently add value and how could we build on this into the future.

6. 'Start with why'- have a section around team purpose- why does this team exist- how do they add value to the wider organisation and their clients, whether internal or external. With the increased focus on why we all do what we do which came with the pandemic, using this an opportunity to connect people to purpose at work is really powerful. This lets teams take time out to re-affirm team purpose and how the work of this team links to the organisation’s mission. Check out Simon Sinek’s video here for some inspiration around how inspiring this is.

7. How do we best communicate as a team - structuring a section on the all important topic of Communication and giving team members a voice around their preferences is a fundamental. As a Mediator, I see all too often the damaging effects when basic communication goes awry, yet none of us are immune to getting this wrong- I know I do- sometimes multiple times on a bad day! We know that the days of casually updating the full team as you pass by after a meeting are gone, so what should replace this? Are there set hours for communication & what is the preferred means? How do you communicate when working apart and how do teams recognise and accommodate the different preferences and styles that we know are so important in high performing teams.

8. Think Wellbeing- how will the team have an honest conversation about ensuring a fair allocation of work, as well as setting the right conditions for work-life balance at a team level. If your organisation offers wellbeing programmes, how does the team support each other to have the time or space to access these. Can you hold some 1-1 meetings as a quick walking meeting, taking people out of their usual surroundings changes perspective and sparks creativity. The conversation at team level is a first start, and acknowledging that wellbeing needs to be part of an integrated organisational commitment to a culture of wellbeing, is important, so that the underlying conditions are right to enable wellbeing.

9. Recognition and Gratitude-a large scale work human study in 2021 found that recipients of gratitude were almost twice as likely to be highly engaged, as well as nearly twice as likely to find purpose and meaning in their work. While this can also be incorporated into the Values section, some organisations may reflect that the clear benefits that flow from recognition, as outlined above, warrants a full section. For other organisations it could also sit under an agile style ‘Retrospective’, where colleagues can share what has worked really well, discuss how others could learn from this, as well as use it as a ‘Kudos’ board to call out appreciation for great collaboration and team work. This could help address the fear leaders have around how knowledge is shared in the blended environment.

10. Remember this is an evolving process, and while getting started is a huge step, it is just the first step. This is less about compliance and more about generating buy-in from teams- seeking their commitment to update the charters on an ongoing basis. Getting the value out of team charters does require commitment from the teams themselves to show leadership and engage with positive intent. Continuing to build this charter can be incorporated into team meeting agendas or used as an opportunity to gather people together when in-person, to both input to the charter, while also serving the purpose of creating one of those all important ‘moments that matter’, where people can connect!