Team

Charter Exercise
Introduction

Students approach their coursework with a variety of learning goals related to their desired depth of
understanding of the material; preferences for efficiency in completing assignments; and desired grade.
Misaligned goals, as well as misaligned expectations for achieving those goals, can be significant
hindrances to team effectiveness.

Thus, to maximize your effectiveness, your team is being asked to create a team charter that specifies
your collective goals and expectations. This is ideally created before the onset of your work together.

Guidelines for Your Discussion and Drafting the Charter

1. Capture the individual goals of each team member and discuss their alignment.

2. Spend a few minutes discussing positive and negative past team experiences of each team
member. You will likely quickly see some common themes and/or behaviors. Use this as the
starting point for a conversation about expectations for your team.

3. Your team charter should include:

a. A clear statement of the team’s shared goals that takes into account the individual goals
of each member.

b. A description of the team environment you want to create that allows you meet your
goals and in which the following conditions (identified as critical to effective teams in
the Google research) exist:
i. Psychological safety: All members feel comfortable contributing, expressing
ideas, and asking questions.
ii. Dependability: All members can be counted on to do high quality work on time.
iii. Structure and clarity: Addressed in 5C below.
iv. Meaning of work: Each member’s learning goals are addressed.
v. Impact of work: The group helps each member see the relevance of course
material and assignments.

c. Team structure and processes, such as:
i. Expectations regarding the participation of individual team members;
ii. How you plan to share work;
iii. Strategies to leverage the unique strengths and knowledge of each member;
iv. Communication procedures;
v. Scheduling issues and meeting protocols;
vi. Processes for making decisions and addressing disagreements;
 vii. Expectations for feedback between members including frequency and method;
viii. Plans for assessing your team’s effectiveness during the quarter.

4. Avoid general, somewhat meaningless statements such as “We will treat each other with
respect.” The more explicit and observable the desired (or not desired) behavior, the more
likely it will be brought into being. For example: “We will each be on time for scheduled
meetings” sets clear expectations and is measureable. You should be able to assess how well
you are meeting each expectation you set for the group.

5. Ideally, the team charter should be no more than one page in length.

Finalizing the Charter

week 3
Your group’s charter is due to Instructor/TA by _________.