Team Charter for virtual teams

When I start working with a team, one of the first things we do together is the Team Charter. The team charter is a document that establishes the norms and rules by which the team will work together. The charter includes a description of the team's roles, values, strengths and weaknesses, defines key success indicators and quality standards for teamwork.?

When is a team charter needed?

The simple answer is: always. But it's especially helpful to agree on rules for working together in a newly formed team. It's also helpful when you need to rebuild the team to start over. Then the newly developed rules help the team agree on what's important to them and how they'll work together to achieve team goals.

Why it matters.

Not only does a team charter help the team gain clarity on roles, goals and rules for working together. One of the greatest benefits of such a charter is the opportunity for open dialogue among all team members during the discussion of each charter item. If the process is well facilitated by an external consultant, a HR business partner, or a team leader, people begin to understand each other better, learn to agree on controversial points, gain clarity about what's important to them, and ultimately end up with a document that everyone is willing to follow because they've invested their energy and commitment in its creation.

Discussing common goals and work rules builds trust within the team, thereby increasing team engagement and motivation.

What is included in a team charter?

Working on common team norms and rules is an ongoing process. To ensure that the team charter is a living instrument and not just another poster on the wall, the team meets regularly to check that everything is up to date, respected and agreed upon. Therefore, points can be added, changed or expanded.

When I work with teams, I usually focus on the following 7 points:

1. Team Members.
2. Team values
3. Team norms
4. Roles
5. Indicators of success
6. Quality Standards
7. Wow events.

At the end, I ask the team to sign the team charter physically or virtually. This is to make sure that all team members have really accepted the common agreements. If anyone has doubts, it's important to record this and go over the points that make some team members uncomfortable again together.?

This process helps to develop trust in the team when everyone understands that a great result can only be achieved if the team is more than the sum of the abilities of its individual members.?

A team charter helps a team evolve from a potential team to a real team. And for teams to reach the next level of a high-performing team, more in-depth and intensive work with the team is needed. I do this work with the my our proprietary methodology - C.L.I.C.K. Virtual Team Canvas.

P.S. This Team Charter was created in Mural, you can also use Miro, Google Jamboard or any other whiteboard or collaboration tool.

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Daria Rudnik?is a team and leadership coach, HR transformation leader for Tech and Finance companies, who teaches leadership at MSU Business School.

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