Description
Everything you need to know about How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements is right here!
This package contains these downloadable files:
- PDF: Ebook – How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements
- PDF: How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements – Resources
- Word Document: How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements – Reusable Resources
What Are Work Agreements?
Work Agreements are the third Element of Right-Minded Teamwork’s 5 Elements framework. They are used to transform unproductive, dysfunctional behavior into positive and constructive work behavior.
The 10 steps involved in creating Work Agreements are outlined in this book How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements: A Practical, 10-Step Process for Building a Right-Minded Team That Works as One.
This book is written primarily for team facilitators. But leaders and teammates can easily follow along to build Work Agreements, too.
Benefits of Team Work Agreements
First of all, Work Agreements are team covenants or vows that transform teammates’ dysfunctional and non-productive behavior into team cohesiveness and accomplishment.
And secondly, Work Agreements are not guidelines or ground rules. They are emotionally mature promises that guide a team to work collaboratively towards the shared goal of achieving customer satisfaction.
Work Agreements Resolve Conflicts
If you’ve ever been part of a team, you know it is not a matter of if conflict will occur among teammates. It is a question of when.
Teammates may function at acceptable levels for a while, but eventually, they will decline into separateness and self-interest.
It is far better to have Work Agreements in place before teammate disagreements happen. Established Work Agreements can serve to mitigate and even make positive use of those clashes when they occur. However, even if your team is already in conflict, it’s still not too late (and will never be!) to create and live team Work Agreements.
Creating Work Agreements
To create Work Agreements, leaders and teammates must openly discuss unresolved interpersonal or work process issues. And together agree on what acceptable behavior looks like going forward. Emotionally mature and productive teammates intentionally create Work Agreements because they have experienced the benefits of a unified team with shared interests and common goals.
In my 35 years of active team building, I facilitated over 500 teams around the globe, many of them beautifully diverse and multicultural. Every single team created Work Agreements and succeeded as a result.
Work Agreements work when teammates live them.
Facilitating Work Agreements
The process for facilitating Work Agreements is not complicated. Nonetheless, becoming proficient in facilitating their creation takes dedication and a willingness to learn. As you practice, you will make mistakes, especially in the beginning. Don’t give up. Your mistakes will not hurt your teams – I promise. The long-lasting benefits you will bring to the team as you improve your facilitation skills will far outweigh any initial missteps.
By following the steps in the book How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements: A Practical, 10-Step Process for Building a Right-Minded Team That Works as One, you can learn how to facilitate Work Agreements for your team.
Here are the 10 Steps
- Agree on the first teamwork topic to address, which will result in a Work Agreement.
- Determine the topic’s desired outcome.
- Design an opening question to be asked to kick off the topic dialogue.
- When the time is right, ask the opening question for your topic.
- Capture legitimate behavioral answers on a flip chart.
- Write and propose an intention statement.
- After a short dialogue, ask if teammates agree to live the intention.
- Write clarifications and conditions for acceptance.
- Create an interlocking accountability condition.
- When everyone approves the Work Agreement, celebrate. Move to the next topic.
Two Types of Work Agreements
Work Agreements may be process-driven or behavior-driven.
A process Work Agreement describes who will do what task and which work method they will use. It defines work tasks in terms of roles, responsibilities, interfaces, or procedures.
A behavioral Work Agreement describes how people will behave while performing tasks, such as the ways teammates will bring to light, communicate, and resolve difficult performance issues or teammate conflicts. This type of Work Agreement aims for transparency in all interpersonal interactions.
Want Better Teamwork?
It is worth stating and restating: Right-Minded Teamwork has nothing to do with right-brain thinking or right-wing viewpoints.
Moreover, RMT has everything to do with what you and your teammates collectively decide is “right.” Therefore, your team’s choices – captured in your team Work Agreements – on what acceptable work behavior and efficient processes look like define your team’s Right-Minded Teamwork “thought system.”
In short, the “right” way of doing, being, and behaving is the way that is right for your team. The “right” way is how your team decides you will do no harm and work as one.
So, to conclude, create and live Team Work Agreements now, so that you create and sustain the 5 elements of Right-Minded Teamwork in your team, tomorrow!
Download How to Facilitate Team Work Agreements today!
Right-Minded Teamwork is everyone’s right!
Thank you for your desire to create Right-Minded Teamwork in your team. You believe, like many others, it is everyone’s right to work together as one unified team and every person, including you and your teammates, may exercise their right – right now. Thank you for doing your part.
You see, by creating Right-Minded Teamwork in your team and organization, you help make the world a better place for everyone, everywhere, forever. Let’s get started right now.
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