Tweet

Team Excellence Fifth Ingredient - A Charter

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: A good team Charter is the best way to guarantee outstanding performance by all team members. The key to a good Charter is to identify the consequences for social loafing up front. This article explains why this is so powerful.

Team Excellence Fifth Ingredient - A Charter

High performing teams do not just happen. They are planned and built in a way that optimizes performance. Numerous ingredients go in to making up a high performing team. I will outline several of these factors in separate articles in order to emphasize the particular item and highlight how to get it.

I have coached hundreds of teams and discovered that the ones with an agreed-upon team charter always outperform ones that have wishy-washy ground rules. A good charter will consider what each member brings to the team so the diversity of talents can be used. Second, it will contain the specific goals that are tangible and measurable. Third, it will have a set of agreed upon behaviors so people know what to expect of each other and can hold each other accountable. Fourth, the team needs a set of ground rules for how to operate. Ground rules can be detailed or general, it really does not matter, but some ground rules are required. Finally, and this is the real key, there need to be specific agreed-upon consequences for members of the team who do not abide by the charter.

The most common problem encountered within any team is a phenomenon called "social loafing." This is where one or more members step back from the work and let the others do it. This inequity always leads to trouble, but it is nearly always avoidable if the consequences for social loafing are stated clearly and agreed upon by all team members at the outset. People will not knowing slack off if they have already agreed to the negative impact on themselves, or if they do it once and feel the pain they will not do it again. This last element of successful teams is the most important ingredient. When it is missing, you are headed for trouble eventually.

The power of having consequences documented is that each person on the team has already agreed to the penalty for goofing off. This makes all the difference in the world. If teams wait to discuss the consequences until the problem has occurred, then you can expect two things to happen. First, one or more members will test the group because there is no explicit penalty stated. Second, when the team does try to apply some kind of punitive action the guilty party will become offended because "nobody told me that there was going to be a penalty if I did not do my job...besides I had a good reason, and the deliverable was not really that clear, and bla bla bla."

Related Articles
  A Project Blueprint - The Project Charter
  4 Common Denominators of High Performing Teams
  9 Tips For Better Vendor Demos
  Leaders' Categorical Imperatives vs. Free Will of Employees
  The Power of Excellence
  How to Lead a Transformation of Your Team
  Employing Restaurant Menu Strategies in Human Resources
  4 Blind Date Tips That Relate to Recruiting
  Top 10 Reasons To Love HR
  3 Techniques For Giving Feedback To The C-Suite
  Sales Growth Teams Drive Revenue
  Tips to Improve Team Culture
  Pursuing Excellence in Leadership
  Two Important Qualities
  Overuse of the Pronoun I
  Self-Development Can Lower Economic Anxiety
  Expecting Excellence - A Key to Effective Leadership
  Are we all just OVERwhelmed?
  Your Rules of Business
  21 Secrets of Establishing Effective Teams

Article Tags: charter, Collins, goals, Ingredients, leader, Maslow, people, Shared goals, Teams, Trust



Related Forum Posts
Re: Anyone Uses Elance.com? Guru.com? Rentacoder.com? - I've had quite a bit of success on oDesk.com. I've never used Elance so I can't compare. I like oDesk.com 'cos I get to sort thru people (e.g. within a certain bid range) with a single click. I find their help response very quick and I like the oDesk Team software that "providers" must install. This gives me the Buyer more insight as to what I am paying for. The Team software takes screenshots of the Providers screen on 10 min increments so I can see that the person is infact doing work for me.
Legacy - Thinking about leaving a legacy, most people think it got to do with money. It is much more than that. In my opinion it is a reflection of someones live well lived. eg Someone can leave a 'Spirit of Caring for others' or a 'Spirit of Excellence' . There is absolutely no end of ways to encourage people to achieve their goals and dreams. We have so many people , who make us think, how we should live. The example of Trump is there. Any other viewpoints? Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!!"
Is there a need for correct English? - Hi, I am originally of German tongue. By the way, it is not the easiest language to learn. Then I learnt French, which I spoke fluently long time ago. You loose it if you don't use it. For over 30 years I am in England and need only to speak English. I realize, that I have some imperfections. Sometimes it is back to front etc. Does anyone know, who is best qualified to correct my future articles? Or, does anybody care, how it is written today? 'Anything goes' people say. Is Excellence in English writing important? Kindest regards Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!"
Re: FILL IN THE BLANK: One thing I did to grow my business today - Website: Posted a new article on my main business website and bookmarked it. Team: Contacted new affiliates and invited them to join my training list.
Re: Essential Leadership skills - Vision Values Mission Strategic Thinking Decision Making Communication Team Bonding People Development Coaching / Mentoring / Guiding / Grooming Presentation Thanks Robert


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The new marketing question. Will they follow?

Getting The Media Attention You Deserve

Smart & Simple Internet Techniques

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.