The Team's Charter - This written document should clarify matters such as:
- Overview of the reason(s) the leadership team has been formed
- Identification of the stakeholders the leadership team will serve and the expectations
they have for the team's output.
- Identification of the peer teams this leadership team must interact with and support
including any issues that must be addressed by the team.
- The team leader's role and responsibilities
- The resources invested in the team's efforts including:
- People/team members
- Facilities and equipment
- Support services
- Funding
- The values and code of conduct the team leader and team members will be expected to follow
in their work and dealings with others.
- The term of the leadership team's existence and the processes of review and renewal if
the team will exist for more than a short time.
The Leadership Team's Goals - The team's sponsor should formally document the team's
goals that align to the organization's expectactions, including specific dates by which each goal must be accomplished.
Gaining Agreement - The team's sponsor should engage in direct conversations with
the team leader to gain the leader's personal commitment to the charter and goals of the leadership team. Without
this commitment, a high risk of team failure will soon become apparent, especially in our current ecomonic environment.
When the team is engage in addressing a cirtical issue, the failure of the sponsor to monitor the team's progress may also
result in a cascading set of failures that, as we have seen, may bring down a division, a company and even an economy.
Monitoring Progress - The sponsor must establish processes that facilitate team
progress monitoring and provides assistance when barriers are encountered. The implementation of an automated commitment
management system may provide considerable support to these processes. Further, active commitment monitoring allows
the team leader and sponsor to remain passively active in helping team members remain focused on, committed to, and personally
accountable for completing their goal-aligned commitments.
