We continue to lead in a mixed-up world, and a sense of connection and belonging within teams is struggling. Lots has been said about what will the work environment look like when ‘this’ is done. Will it be the ‘normal’ from the past? Will it be a ‘hybrid’ environment? Who knows?
The big issue that we as leaders need to fix is the sense of ‘tribe,’ or connection and belonging. One of the ways I am encouraging my clients to create this, is by building (or revisiting) their team’s “Operating Agreement.”
An Operating Agreement is a list of behavioural norms that guide the team’s day-to-day interactions with each other. It’s a set of principles that guide the team when issues, opportunities or challenges come up (not that you’ve had to navigate any of those in the last two years!).
An Operating Agreement for your team helps everyone understand each other better and be more accepting of different opinions on various subjects (not that there has been issues around that over the last two years either!).
Here is how I approach crafting or revisiting your team’s Operating Agreement. First pull the team together and explain the ‘Why’ for doing this exercise. Next, work through the following list of questions and facilitate with your team (make sure you don’t take control and ‘tell’):
When you are done, get the team to sign-off on the document (I make each team member sign the document), make sure everyone has a copy of it and… make sure you, the leader, protects the integrity of the agreement by calling people out on behavior that is contrary to the Agreement.
What I have found is that when each team member is living in alignment with the agreement, the level of trust, commitment and accountability go way up.
Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, connect with Robert on LinkedIn.
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