More on ground rules

I’ve been thinking more about ground rules since my exchange with Bob Sutton about using them to help manage meetings. As Harold Shinsato points out in his comment on that post, “ground rules and team commitments need not only be restricted to meetings.” That’s absolutely true.

I believe strongly in team agreements as the foundation for team structure and culture. Done properly, specific agreements about behavior, process, and roles/responsibilities aren’t anal-retentive corporate fiddlefaddle. They are the tools that create a level playing field for everyone on the team, so that everyone can expect the same basic experience of being a team member. An effective, happy team becomes everyone’s right and everyone’s responsibility; and that’s when teamwork really takes off.

I think every manager should facilitate Team Ground Rules. Like meeting ground rules, these are specific behaviors that everyone on the team helps define, and then agrees to. Together, the team creates a set of behavior guidelines that they believe will:
• Make it easier for them to do their individual jobs
• Make it easier to work together as a team.

General team ground rules can cover a number of areas:
• sharing information
• communication
• areas of authority or responsibility
• commitments to training and development
• handling mistakes
• raising concerns
• addressing interpersonal conflicts

Here’s an example of Team Ground Rules from a team I’ve been part of:

Noise and Privacy
• Avoid extended loud conversations at our desks.
• Tell people if they are being too loud. Don’t stew about it.
• Respect when someone says they are busy. Tell them what you want to discuss and ask when they are available to talk. You should both take responsibility for following up.

Communication
• Let each other know if something is bothering us.
        – Be polite and respectful.
        – Be direct.
        – No ultimatums.
        – Get a manager to facilitate the conversation if necessary.
        – Assume that we all have good intentions.
• Stay approachable and open.
• Keep helping each other. We all have different skills to share.
• Let the team know when you are absent, and identify a proxy.
• Share information about our priorities, responsibilities and workload.

Your team can decide on whatever ground rules you think will make it easier to work together. The point is that everyone agrees.

I also strongly recommend that you develop Manager Ground Rules that apply specifically to how managers on your team behave. It’s important that every team member feel confident that the team is managed consistently, whether you have multiple managers on the team or it’s just you. Again, the team works together to create these rules — they are not Handed Down From On High. It can be scary to give your team input into how you as a manager behave with them: but I guarantee there is no more powerful way to create a connected, supportive and successful team than to ask people how you can best manage them.

Here’s an example of Manager Ground Rules (again, from a team I managed, so I was bound by these rules along with other managers on the team):

Working with team members
• Hands-off attitude. Allow people to do their job in the way that works best for the individual except where necessary to meet team standards.
• Delegate properly. Make sure people understand the work that is required, and then let them go.
  Resist the urge to do the work yourself.
• Get involved in hands-on details only when you need to learn a new area of the business; to assist in problem-solving; to get information for a decision; or to provide training.
• Balance between making suggestions and giving directions.
• Know when people need help. Know when people need smaller goals and more manager involvement, and then when they are ready to go it alone.

Communication
• Share information consistently, especially information that team doesn’t have access to.
• Overcommunicate at first and then pull back as requested.
• Give context for information.
• Communicate important information verbally as well as in writing.
• No mutual mind-reading. Everyone has to communicate. Employees have to also take responsibility for the relationship and sharing information with the manager.

Decision-making
• Listen. Hear all details and information first before jumping in.
• Be fair. Get all the information and perspectives you need to make a decision, then inform everyone of the decision.
• Don’t make decisions in a vacuum. Consider all input, even if you can’t give everyone the answer they want.
• Explain decisions.

I devote an entire session of the Humans At Work curriculum to teaching managers how to define and create a variety of team agreements, including Team Ground Rules and Manager Ground Rules. You’ll also find examples of all agreements in the Tools and Materials document.