Team Charter Give your team a stake in operating procedure

Helping to create a clear, unambiguous departmental or company-wide mandate is a real test of team spirit.  To achieve the all important 'buy-in',  all team members must feel like stake-holders - that the set goals are achievable and that they, individually, have helped to create the standards by which they will judge their own performance. 

The example below contains clear, simple guidelines that were created by team members, team leaders and managers.  See which might work for you or your team.

Email

To respect our colleagues' time we will:

  • Bear in mind that email is a non-urgent form of communication and therefore we will walk or phone if we need an urgent response.
  • Only cc where necessary and be careful when using 'reply to all'.
  • Be relevant, specific and succinct and include a deadline in the subject line (e.g., priority: High, Med, Low or FYI).
  • Be considerate in our tone of voice – don't write in capitals.
  • Read back and review before sending: it's easy to offend when using upper case font, red colours or replying from mobiles.
  • Acknowledge emails and set response expectations if unable to action for several days.
  • Inform email senders politely if emails are irrelevant to you.
  • Undertake training to understand Outlook functions in order to manage emails.
  • Ensure that we don't just forward emails and explain why we are sending them.

Team

We Will:

  • Appreciate and respect what others do and their workload.
  • Manage upwards in order to manage workload.
  • Take responsibility to devise and own solutions if an issue occurs.
  • Always aim to project a positive and receptive outlook during rev-ups.
  • Have a team 'drop-box' to get ideas and feedback, however sensitive. This can be anonymous.
  • Where appropriate, circulate a weekly update email to give news of workload from your area ensuring 'FYI' in subject line.
  • Have regular social get-togethers both casual and planned.

Phone

We Will:

  • Answer the phone after three rings if not answered, smile and answer with our name.
  • Set voicemail where applicable, if away from desk for prolonged and planned period of time.
  • Introduce a new policy re: sales calls.
  • Only accept sales contact by email: marketing @ABC.com

Meetings

We Will:

  • Be on time for meetings. If late don't expect a summary.
  • Send an apology for non-attendance.
  • Arrange meetings after 10.30am.
  • Agree attendance is discretionary if you anticipate no actions. It is acceptable to only attend the part of a meeting to discuss your area.
  • Set and distribute a clear agenda before meeting to allow decisions on who needs to attend.
  • Wherever possible have 'stand up' meetings lasting no longer than 30 minutes.
  • 'Speak up': your opinion is valued when attending meetings.
  • Ensure minutes are written and circulated to attendees and cc'd to relevant non attendees of meeting.

Line Managers

We Will:

  • Be open and receptive to honest feedback regarding the impact of unplanned work and allow compromised alternatives or quicker solutions.
  • Ask managers to go through line managers for any task required.
  • Set expectations earlier by warning of anticipated busy and demanding periods
  • Recognise that negative comments can be a real barrier to success.
  • Be approachable at all times.
  • Empower our team to take control of their day and re-prioritise tasks as required in order to manage last minute requests.
  • Forward plans where possible and give feedback and reason for task requested and provide feedback after task has been completed.

And Finally

We will all be willing to be nudged if we are slipping away from any of the above!

Let's take this further.

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