Importance of Team Charter

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACCELERATION_2015-2016
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
ALGONQUIN COLLEGE





MGT1113_300

DEVELOPING AND MANAGING HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS

REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT

IMPORTANCE OF TEAM CHARTER

PROFESSOR                                                                      STUDENT

DAVID ANTHONY NEWBY                                       SHAKTISINH SODHA

                                                                                            (040842208)

Introduction:

Building a high performance team and making it work is a challenging task especially in modern day work atmosphere where a team consists of people from different backgrounds. It becomes even more complicated when the team is working on several projects or a big project consisting of many tasks to do and goals to achieve. If all team members not aware of the project vision and goals, if members not able to communicate and work together effectively, then things can go wrong and so the end results of the project. At such times, a Team Charter can be really useful if a team already has it, to avoid such hassle and/or solve issues.

What is a Team Charter?

A Team charter is a document which represents purpose-a sense of direction, objectives and goals, a plan how the team will work together more efficiently and productively, an agreement which includes everyone’s set values and boundaries, time frame to achieve set objectives, protocols, and the communication method especially to resolve any future conflict if there might happen any.

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How to build it?
A Team charter can be developed by either the top management and then represent to the team or the team can develop it by meeting, discussions and brainstorming sessions. It works better if team creates it by itself.

Importance of Team Charter (personal reflection):

According to my research and reflection, a team charter is better than job descriptions and policies decided by the organization since it focuses on teamwork and values. The process of building a team charter itself brings enthusiasm and better understanding between team members also it helps understanding and keeping the big picture in mind for each and every individual in the team. Because, without a direction members can pull in different directions and it might end up in a chaos, at this time your team charter can be your guiding document.

Additionally, this document not only provides information about the team to team members only but it also does the same for new-members and top management and/or non-team members too.

The major reasons why a team charter is important are as mentioned below:

Team direction: what would the team or individual member do if not aware of objectives and goals? if not defined earlier, you never know where the team is going ultimately.

Agreements: it provides a chance to build agreements about how team members will operate, make decisions, how often and where they will meet etc.

Plan: rather than moving quickly to the solution, with team charter perspective, team can plan the process and checklists in advance to avoid the frustration later.

Roles and Responsibilities: to become highly-productive as a team, it is necessary to know each individual’s strengths as well as weaknesses and then allocate roles and responsibilities accordingly. this way team can understand and work smoothly.

Expectations and Boundaries: often teams become overwhelmed by the workload and tasks difficulty. in this case, defining their expectations and what is their limitations are help them understand what is in control and what not.

Productivity, Successful Outcomes: this is the most important factor of all, end results. successful chartering will ensure the workload distribution, defining deadlines and time allocation, open and healthy communication and preventing stress and frustration. all these will bring better results in the end for the entire team.