3 min read
Personal Leadership Development Plan: Helping Teams Under Stress
IS YOUR TEAM UNDER STRESS?
The following is another lesson from my coaching play book about a leader whose team was...
Working in teams is the norm in today’s workplace. Working in high performing teams is unfortunately, the exception. One powerful and simple way to help your team function at its best is to create a team charter.
What is a team charter?
A document co-created by the team members that clarifies the team’s direction and establishes boundaries and ground rules. A team charter makes it explicit to everyone on the team what they are working towards, how they will be measured, who is doing what, and how they will work together.
Benefits of a team charter:
Working in teams can be a highly triggering experience for our brains, leading to stress, lower performance, dysfunctional dynamics and disengagement. David Rock’s Neuroleadership SCARF™ model is a tool to pinpoint which types of stress affects each team member based on threat and reward triggers that are hardwired within our brains. Knowing these triggers can give you important clues into what needs aren't being met for your team, and what you can change to become a high-performing team.
When a team charter is created in-person with everyone’s input, there are numerous benefits for how a team charter can create positive brain energy and significant bottom line impact.
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Threat and Reward Triggers |
Team Charter Reward Activators |
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Status: Perceived relative importance to others |
Affirms what a team member’s role contributes to the team/organization and with awareness of how this role compares to the other team members |
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Certainty: Perceived ability to predict the future |
Provides clear expectations; Creates plans for meetings and other systems that contribute consistency to team interactions; Provides dates in the future of what to expect, establishes milestones; Creates agreements i.e. when to follow up; Prioritizes central goals; manages multiple focus and competing commitments; Breaks complex problems into simple steps |
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Autonomy: Perceived sense of control over events |
Creates choice; Offers options of what could work; Which would you prefer? Encourages participation and contribution |
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Relatedness: Perceived sense of safety with others |
Creates guidelines for how the team will work together; Clarifies who are resources for each other; Inclusive way for people to feel not part of the “in” group |
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Fairness: Perceived sense of fair exchanges between people |
Provides a framework for consistent policy adherence; Increases transparency in communication and involvement of others in business issues; Sets clear expectations supported by co-created ground rules |
There are many more benefits than those described above. The bottom line is that is good for the bottom line when a team has a team charter guiding their activity together. In my next blog post, I will share a case study of a team I worked with who had never worked with a team charter and the value they experienced when they began operating with one.
Have you used a team charter? Have you found a good team charter template? Tell us below!
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