For Superior Team Performance, Build a Strong Foundation

If everyone in your team is not working toward the same end, reaching any goals will be frustrated. Having a clearly defined direction, purpose, or objective is essential for high performing teams. As a leader, it is your job to help articulate that vision, bring everyone on board, and, when necessary, remind team members of their commitments and agreed upon goals. How can you help your team develop its goals? How do you ensure they stay on track?

A Team Charter

I recommend the team develop a charter, or terms of reference, when the team is not getting the results they want. For a new leader who wants to make their team a high performing team, working with them to create the charter engages them in the process, and lets them take ownership of the team’s success. The process itself is beneficial. The charter, meanwhile, has 2 primary benefits:

1. It provides direction for how the team will operate, and a way to measure if the team is performing in agreed upon ways. It ensures the goals stay visible and manageable.
2. It helps the team develop, moving from “storming” to “norming” through the co-creation of the charter.

As a foundation, a charter should be clear about why everyone is a part of the team, what the team is doing, and what the expectations are for each member. It also helps prevent ‘scope creep,’ by serving as a reminder of goals.

A Frame of Reference Revisited

Once upon a time I was against team charters, because I saw them as too rigid and defining. They can be, but only if you let them. Once created, you should not be slavishly adhered to a charter. Rather, it’s a place to go back to if your team is having issues. If something isn’t working, maybe it needs to be changed, or maybe someone isn’t doing what was agreed. The document should be revisited and modified as needed, and if necessary recreated from scratch. If it just sits on the paper and know one on the team gives it a second thought, can anything within truly be actionable?

The way your team operates, the dynamic between members, and the agreed upon behaviours are only productive if your team is consistently meeting or exceeding its goals.