Team Charter
What is a team charter and why is it important?
The Team Charter establishes a shared foundation for how teams will work together. Teams can use this activity to clarify their purpose, roles, decision-making processes, norms for collaboration, and specific time-bound goals. A clear charter promotes accountability, transparency, and trust by ensuring all members have a common understanding of expectations and how their work will progress.
When should I complete or update a team charter?
Complete a Team Charter as one of the team’s very first activities, ideally after conducting a Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results (SOAR) Analysis.
An updated Team Charter can be quite helpful for established teams that have experienced membership turnover, a growing sense of interpersonal disconnection, role confusion (e.g., who does what) or the lack of a clear and universally held vision for their work. Ideally, an updated team charter would be preceded by a refreshed or updated SOAR Analysis.
Team should review the Team Charter at least once a year to identify if the team is staying accountable to goals, processes, and preferred methods of working together.
| Team Charter Key Activities | Time Estimate: ~ 5+ Hours |
|---|---|
| Mission & Goals | 2-3 one-hour meetings |
| Membership, Roles, & Alternatives | 1-2 one-hour meetings |
| Project Timeline | 1-2 one-hour meetings |
| Operating Norms & Accountable Space Agreements | 1-2 one-hour meetings |
| Team Management & Decision-Making | 2-3 one-hour meetings |
How should I create a team charter?
Teams should start with the Team Charter sub-component by working through the Base Deck (Presentation), reading through the Team Building Definitions and Explanations, and then working together to create their Team Charter. Ideally, the work in this sub-component should be revisited at least once a year to update the team charter as teams evolve. The documents below are arranged in the ideal order of completion.
Start by viewing the Foundational Activities Presentation before reading the Team Building: Definitions, Concepts, and Guidance for Creating a Team Charter tool. Finish by working together to create your Team Charter. The Team Building and Team Charter Creation facilitator guide will help you. The Team Charter Template is a convenient tool to record the specifics of your team charter. It can be shared with all team members and should be kept in a location that allows them to easily reference it on a regular basis.
Resources to complete a Team Charter:
Foundational Activities (Presentation)
This presentation walks through the steps a team can take to set itself up for success. Teams will learn how a team charter can help them:
- Align the team’s mission and goals
- Allocate roles
- Identify timelines
- Establish a shared language
- Set expectations for meetings and teamwork
Review this presentation before reading the Team Building Definitions and Explanations resource.
Team Building: Definitions, Concepts, and Guidance for Creating a Team Charter (Tool)
The Team Building: Definitions, Concepts, and Guidance for Creating a Team Charter tool reviews the importance of creating a team charter; explains each element of a comprehensive charter; and provides tips for achieving alignment among your team members as they work to advance health equity.
Facilitator Guide: Team Building and Team Charter Creation
This guide will help you plan sessions for your team to create a charter.
Team Charter Template (Tool)
You can download this Template Charter in Word or PDF format to document and save your team’s charter.
Assessing and Improving Team Processes and Dynamics
Your team should revisit this tool periodically to assess and improve how your team functions. You can use it in two ways:
- As an initial readiness assessment before working on a component of the Roadmap
- For ongoing assessment as you implement each Roadmap component
Use the Roadmap Goal and Objective Setting tool to facilitate and document the development, implementation, and evaluation phases of your health equity initiative. It will help your team realize your vision to reduce and eliminate health and healthcare inequities by providing a centralized resource to:
- establish process goals that align with each Roadmap component;
- document task status, identify project champions, and maintain detailed notes;
- monitor progress across multiple Roadmap components simultaneously; and
- promote consistent team communication, accountability, and progress.