This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Team Contract
Each team, and the way that they work together, is unique. Once you’ve formed your team, make sure everyone is aligned with the team values and how team members will work together. You’ll be working closely with your teammates in an environment that can be intellectually challenging and emotionally draining. As the team kicks off the work, take some time upfront to discuss what matters to each team member in terms of core values and working agreements and to begin building trust.
Core Values
The team’s core values make us who we are—our code of conduct and promise to one another. As our team continues to evolve and grow, these are the beliefs most important to hold fast to; core values and guiding tenets that our team leaders will hire for or fire for . . . shaping our special team’s culture with good people who personify these values and put them to work every day. At the outset of a product vision effort, determine your team’s core values.
Try It This Way
Here are examples of core values that might be embraced by an effective team:
Respect. Honor one another’s abilities, achievements, and expertise.
Partnership. The sum of our strengths and different backgrounds will achieve results greater than those we can achieve alone.
Open-Mindedness. We listen and consider what others have to say before expressing our own viewpoint.
Dependability. We keep our word, always.
Disruptive at Heart. Whether braving the more challenging path, or forging a new path, we’re passionately committed to doing right by the users we serve.
Transparency and Candor. We build trust within a team by communicating honestly, openly, and clearly (…and often).
Working Agreements
Working agreements are commonly used on agile teams and represent how team members arrange to work with one another. These agreements often include times of day when team members are available to meet versus when they’re actively working, communication standards (for example: use video if meeting remotely or document new research findings in the team Slack channel), and general rules of engagement for how to productively interact and work with one another.
Trust
Above all, your team must work to embrace the concept of psychological safety. Developing a product vision is a risky endeavor; it requires people to go out on a limb and out of their comfort zone. A great vision represents a bold change, and change—though the only constant—has a way of frightening people. Change is inherently uncomfortable. It’s different from the status quo. Your team must always foster a safe environment where people are allowed to be vulnerable and feel comfortable revealing their authentic selves. Only in this environment, where team members are free to be candid with one another, allowed to take risks, and reminded that it’s perfectly acceptable—even encouraged—to be wrong, will truly transformative ideas emerge. Psychological safety must be cultivated within a team. It requires time to allow people to truly get to know one another and build relationships in order to create empathy and trust. It takes only one team member who’s unwilling to lower their guard to negatively impact the harmony of the entire team. It’s best to identify and remove these team members as soon as possible. Diplomatically removing a teammate who has the potential to disrupt team harmony—even if they’re a brilliant teammate—will result in a more productive team and a better end product in the long run.
DESIGNING INSIDE THE BOX
What’s the importance of building trust within a team focused on creating a product vision?
On the teams I have worked with, I’ve found that while there are a myriad of factors that determine the effectiveness of a team, teams composed of individuals that feel safe to be themselves and aligned around their purpose tend to consistently produce value and desired outcomes. At their core, two areas offer a great place to start when reflecting on the levels of trust and safety in your team(s):
First: behavior modeling should be at the core of what your team does. The culture of any social group is determined by the sum of its composites. It is for this reason that everyone should have the space to be an authentic leader. If you want an environment where people call out things as they notice them, the environment must be stable and safe enough for them to do so. Anyone can be a leader at different points in time; leveraging these value-adds as they manifest ensures innovations that may happen do in fact happen.
Second: create a learning-driven environment. Contrary to the way that many systems are set up, failure is not actually failing . . . make sure there is precedence and space on the team for people to take risks safely. Your main priority should be to set up conditions that allow for learning, where the team can clearly identify significant results regardless of whether they are positive or negative. The worst outcome is one where results are inconclusive because in those cases nothing is learned, ergo nothing is gained. Additionally, with most experiments, failures or negative results are oftentimes more significant than positive results, as they help you hone in on what you are working to achieve. It is for this reason that it’s very important that people are given the space to take risks and fail.
—Chisara Nwabara Product & Service Design Strategist | Agile Transformation Lead www.chisology.com