Rarely will you have the luxury of time to plan everything out before you start a new project or change initiative. And even if you do, it’s likely that unforeseen circumstances will send you back to the drawing board.
However, jumping ahead with no plans is a recipe for disaster.
Instead of planning and then doing, try approaching it as an iterative process, as a planning doing cycle. Think of it as building the vehicle while you are driving it.
While more realistic, this approach does require continual attention on the big picture as well as the details. It requires attention to not only what you are doing, but also how you are doing it — how you make decisions, who is involved and in what ways, how you communicate, etc.
What you are doing is the “content.” How you are doing it is your “process.” Paying attention to the process is essential for success in a planning-doing cycle.
A team charter is a way of capturing your agreements on how you will proceed, your process. Creating it early on will save you more time later on, and by updating it as you proceed, it becomes a living guide.
Creating a team charter requires a team conversation. It’s not something a leader can create alone and hand to the team.
You can craft the most wonderful solution or plan, but if you do it in isolation, you might be surprised by the lack of enthusiasm it generates. When people participate in the conversation, they have a deeper understanding of what’s needed and are more invested in its success.
The conversation itself creates learning and change for those who participate in it. If you wait too long to pull people in, they will not understand the issues the way you do, nor will they share your enthusiasm.
Taking the time for these conversations can be frustrating when you are feeling urgency. The trick is to find the right balance. If you are too process-driven, you are in danger of losing momentum. If you are too focused on doing, you are in danger of poor implementation.
One of the first questions to consider is who needs to be involved in the conversations. Consider all of your stakeholders, what will be required of them for implementation, and what is the best way to involve them.
Any plan for a new initiative, for change or for problem-solving, should include a plan for how you will inform and/or involve the people who will need to support it. They might not need to be involved in all of the chartering process, but the chartering process should include a plan for how to involve them.
As you proceed, pay attention to how, not just what, you are doing, to your process as well as your content. And update your team charter as you get more clarity and make new agreements.
Jesse, the theory in me knows you are right, but the ego in me gets me tripped up. I am so eager to think fast and execute diligently, that I don’t reach out enough in the planning phase. Problem is, organisations today are cumbersome, and trying to sell to people when you want to land, is a lot harder than selling to them in the beginning when you want to build. The picking of the people to involve up front is a trick I have yet to master, and it is pivotal in giving strength to the approach of “building the car while you drive it” process being effective. At least now I can safely say I am picking people to start with, I just still have the one that comes later to the party, who feels aggrieved that they were not included when we started (and they should have been).
Much thanks for your reflections, Thabo. You describe a very common experience. An honest self-assessment is the place to start. We need to recognize our basic instinct to jump in and then make the decision to balance that with taking time in the beginning to save time down the road. But do remember, there’s no way to do it perfectly. It is really an iterative process, and looping people in as your go along is part of it.
Viewing a team charter as an iterative, cyclical process is brilliant and a good reminder that it is never too late to charter. Thank you Jesse.
“it is never too late to charter” << It has pulled many teams out of the muck. Thanks, Fay.
Such a great post as always!!! Your ‘Team Charter’ is the ‘Team Performance Agreement’ I always had my student teams Consider!!! And, as you note, needs to be careful crafted right up front – and reviewed / revised regularly as it’s a dynamic agreement!!! Those teams giving it serious attention and use were always the most effective teams. Disfunctional teams almost always mentioned the lack of an effective TPA!!!
Your planning doing cycle is one I typically encouraged as well. Meaningful situations deserve creative efforts – which means missteps because of the risks. Suggested getting the objective(s) right, understanding likely important aspects, and having a general planned direction for starting are always important. As noted, from there, get going – assessing, reflecting, and revising as you move forward.
Great post!!!
Great point about teams that are struggling. Too often teams focus on coming to agreement on the content (what they’re going to do) without discussing the process (how they are going to work together). Much thanks for adding to the conversation, John!
Great article. Being in manufacturing for over 40 years, I’ve seen it all. Deming, Juran, Quality circles, and the list goes on. Always re-inventing the same verbiage in a different way.
I find that Root Cause Analysis in the Team meetings are paramount to great success. If the team asks the following questions honestly, they can get further, faster, and more profitable thru reduced time of meetings. Who, What, Where, When, Why, & How.
When I’m consulting for manufacturing, first thing I do is take a problem (or opportunity), truthfully answer these questions and solve Root Cause of non-conformance. Works great. Best Regards, Gary
Thanks for the reminder that there is wisdom in the basics. Getting clarity of things like “Who, What, Where, When, Why, & How” is essential.
Brilliant in its simplicity and reality. My mom used to say: ” Act in haste. Regret in sorrow”. A team charter is a superb place to begin… and I would add to the Why and How questions, a brilliant term from Michael Bungay Stanier: the AWE question. It stands for: “and what else?” When we slow down and peel away the onion with AWE, we might find better, deeper answers.
Great question, Eileen. Much thanks for joining the conversation!