Team Charter

A	Guide	to	Writing	your Team's	Charter	Statement

A guide that serves to direct and motivate your team in its pursuit of future goals.

Effective Team Characteristics	

Effective team characteristics are important to know and understand. Some characteristics of effective teams are as follows:

Team Members:
Share a common identity
Have common goals and objectives
Share common leadership
Share successes and failures
Cooperate and collaborate
Have membership roles
Teams:
Are comprised of diverse people
Make decisions effectively

Team Purpose	
A team's purpose is defined by its team charter. A team's charter is defined as something that the team intends to do. It is the object for which the team exists as determined by the team leader and team members. It is a clearly stated purpose that serves to direct and motivate the team in its pursuit of its goals.

Eight Criteria for Effective Charter Statements:

Inspirational
Clear and challenging
Differentiating
Stable but constantly challenging
Beacons and controls
Empowering
Future oriented
Clear and concise

To help your team clearly understand its purpose use the Team Purpose Worksheet on page 6 as a resource.

The Team Charter	
Effective teams are driven by an inspiring Team Charter that must support the organization's vision. The charter statement is best expressed in written format stating the team's intended direction.
A clearly articulated team charter provides the foundation for developing goals and action plans that will assist the team in reaching its desired outcomes. The team charter statement must contain three key elements:

What does the team do?
For whom does the team perform its functions?
How does the team go about doing its job?
Formulate your Team Charter Statement:
What does your team do?

For whom do you perform your function?

How does your team go about doing the work?

Writing a Team Charter Statement	
What does the team do?

This element defines the purpose of the team. It specifies what the team does, the nature of the team's business, and why the team exists. It must be determined unanimously by all team members, otherwise the team will unravel and eventually fall apart.

For whom does the team perform the function?

This element defines who the primary customer is that the team serves. It identifies who will receive the benefits of the team's output. There should be interaction with the identified "customer" and discussion about how the team can meet the "customer's" needs.

Sample Team Charter Statement:

The ABC Team
We are the ABC team formed to provide quality information technology support to all customers, concentrating our resources on regional branches, and our efforts on exceeding customer expectations.

Team Charter:	Who?	What?	and How?	
The Team Charter statement is a combination of specific facts that are integrated with parts of the organization's vision. It must be realistic and in line with the organization's resources and personnel. It must be compelling and attainable. An unrealistic team charter statement that cannot be acted upon only serves to undermine morale and team leadership.

WHO?

WHAT?	HOW?

MY Team's Charter Statement	

State your team's charter statement below:

Team Purpose Worksheet	
Complete the following statements individually and discuss.
The purpose for this team's existence is:

Our task as a team is to:

We will be successful as a team if we do: