Module 6: Team Agreements

Asynchronous Prompt
CAN WE JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE?

Reflect on previous peer-reviewed articles/manuscripts you have

written with a team. What went well? What went wrong? During
the synchronous prompt, your team will develop statements
around authorship to include in your team charter.

Write down the three things you think are the most important to
include in the Living Team Charter about authorship.

1.

2.

3.

If you have time, complete this exercise using the other three
major areas for team agreements (research, data use, and
financial). You will use your ideas as a starting place for your
synchronous work with the team.

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 Synchronous Prompt
CAN WE JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE?

There are four major types of team agreements needed for your
dream team. The agreements are: research, authorship, data, and
financial. For this activity, fill in the boxes below as a team to
develop at least 1-3 statements for each type of agreement.

Setup: We recommend using a large board space to collect ideas.

Split the board into quadrants with each quadrant assigned to one
of the 4 types of agreements (research, authorship, data, and
financial)

Step 1: Ask team members to write their ideas on sticky notes for
each quadrant. As a starting point, consider the items you
brainstormed during the asynchronous activity and use these.

Step 2: Before making a decision, have a conversation about

what’s on the board. Use this time to find themes, ask questions,
or have extended conversations around what may be confusing or
unclear for team members. Don't rush this step.

Step 3: Use a democratic or semi-democratic decision-making

process from the introduction to identify the top three items or
points that need to be articulated within the team charter for each
area. Pro-tip: If Hannah and Ellen were the facilitators they would
hand everyone 3-5 stickers and let them mark their favorites.

Step 4: From the identified themes, and using the boxes below,
craft at least 1-3 statements for each area of agreement that can
be added to your Living Team Charter document.

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Prompt: For each area of agreement, what are the top 3
statements that are vital to include in the Living Team Charter
document?
Research (operational, around core work on the project):

1.
2.
3.

Authorship:

1.
2.
3.

Data Use/Material Transfer (who can use what, when, how,

etc.):

1.
2.
3.

Financial:

1.
2.
3.

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Step 5: Consider developing your team charter statements into 4
separate living documents that provide more comprehensive
information.

Step 6: As with other areas of the team charter, do not just create
these statements or separate agreement documents and then
walk away. Schedule regular times to review, update, and revise
them so that the content is always current and relevant.

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 Advanced Player
CAN WE JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE?

One last thing to consider including in your team charter has to

do with articulating what happens if agreements are broken.
This inevitably leads to tension, stress, and potentially loss of
trust. This is to be expected, but what really matters is how your
team responds. Add a process to your conflict norms to deal
with these types of situations in the future.

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References & Additional Articles
CAN WE JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE?

Aaron, J.R., McDowell, W.C., and Herdman, A.O. (2014). The Effects of a Team
Charter on Student Behaviors. Journal of Education for Business, 90-97.
Bennett, L. M., & Gadlin, H. (2012). Collaboration and Team Science: From
Theory to Practice. Journal of Investigative Medicine : The Official Publication
of the American Federation for Clinical Research, 60(5), 768.
https://doi.org/10.231/JIM.0B013E318250871D
Ceccarelli, M. (2020, February 20). How to Make the Best Team Agreement -
Shiftup. Shift Up. https://shiftup.work/how-to-make-the-best-team-
agreement/
Dupont, P. W. (n.d.). The Importance of Team Agreements. Four Bridges
Advisory. www.fourbridgesadvisorysf.com
Johnston, M. (2020, April 24). Establishing Team Norms > My Management
Mentor. My Management Mentor.
https://mymanagementmentor.com/establishing-team-norms/
Lotrecchiano, G. R., Schwartz, L., & Falk-Krzesinski, H. J. (2021). Measuring
motivation for team science collaboration in health teams. Journal of Clinical
and Translational Science, 5(1), 84–85. https://doi.org/10.1017/CTS.2020.567
Mind Tools Content Team. (n.d.). Team Charters - Team Management
Training from MindTools.com. Mind Tools. Retrieved December 29, 2021,
from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_95.htm
Norton, William I, Jr., and Hale, Dena. (2012). Team Charters and Systematic
Search: A Prescription for Corporate Entrepreneurship. Journal of Applied
Management and Entrepreneurship. 17(1), 19-36.
Isaacs, W. (1999), Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, Bantam
Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
Strobbe, Marieke; Veenman, Hans; de Bruijn, Leo; Valkenburg, Menno (2017),
Five frustrations of project managers… and what you can do with it,
Mediawerf
Strobbe, M. (2020). The value of not meeting team agreements | LinkedIn.
Retrieved June 14, 2021, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/value-
meeting-team-agreements-marieke-strobbe/?
articleId=6635817053385170945
Tuckman, B.W. (1965), ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’. In:
Psychological Bulletin, Volume 63, Nr. 6, p. 384-399

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