Create Alignment with a Team Agreement Template

A team agreement is a document that notes guidelines and expectations on how your team will collaborate. This collective agreement is a compass for group actions and decisions.

Whether this is a one-time collaboration, a new growing team, or an ongoing project team, we encourage you to use this team agreement template to guide the process of creating shared understanding and commitment for how your team can work in unity and move in tandem to reach its objectives and fulfill its purpose.

This template intends to facilitate a shared vision among team members. When 97% of staff and executives agree that a lack of team alignment directly affects the results of a task or a project, creating a team agreement should not be overlooked.

How Do You Write a Team Agreement? 10 Guidelines

What questions are asked in a team agreement? Writing a team agreement entails reflecting on and addressing 10 fundamental guidelines. Take time to consider these individually. Then share your answers with the team and ask for their perspective. These questions are designed to spark a discussion in preparation for creating a collaborative team agreement with input from every member of your team.

1. What we agree on: What do we as a team agree on? Agreement areas may include core working hours, communication preferences/styles, or how we define quality results.

2. What we disagree on: What do we as a team disagree? For example, there may be areas where workflow processes don’t align. We may have different ideas on how to approach a perpetual problem. Perhaps there’s a disagreement on priorities.

3. Core values: What beliefs guide and define our team’s operations? Examples of core values may include communication, integrity, transparency, and excellence, among others. Get specific about what that value means to our team. What behaviors show that someone is holding up this as a core value?

4. Collaboration style: What is our standard for how we collaborate as a team? How do we know which project phase our teammates are working on? What collaboration tools is everyone expected to use? How does that change in various work environments (i.e., remote, hybrid, in-office)?

5. Strengths: What do we do best as a team? What are the hard and soft skills in which the team excels? How do we further leverage these areas elevate team performance and outcomes?

6. Weaknesses: Where do we fall short as a team? What weakness does our team need to work on collectively? Consider revisiting guideline #2 to identify underlying themes to map this part out.

7. Growth opportunities: What opportunities are there to grow? In which areas is our team passionate? What types of skills are we looking to develop further? How can we tackle those areas together?

8. Conflict resolution: Conflict is inevitable at work. How do we approach and solve interpersonal and business disputes? What’s our step-by-step conflict resolution process?

9. Decision-making: Good decisions rely on data, facts and intuition. How does our team embrace uncertainty? What helps us be in the best headspace to approach decision making? What data or factual points does the team lean on to make decisions?

10. Team Mission: Take time to absorb and reflect on the discussion in steps 1-9. Find a common thread tying everything together to craft a team mission statement. This statement should describe what your team does and how your actions impact the company’s success. If you already have one, consider identifying ways to further hone the team’s mission.

Team Agreement Template

Team Name
This can be the current or a newly-formed name.

Team Motto
The motto can be a catchphrase or quote capturing the team’s essence.

Areas of Agreement
Note the work areas in which the team collectively agrees.

Areas of Disagreement
Note the work areas in which the team collectively disagrees.

Core Values
These are beliefs that guide actions and behaviors.

Collaboration Style
Note the tools or methods that streamline roles and responsibilities.

Strengths
Identify hard and soft skills in which the team excels.

Weaknesses
These are areas the team needs to work on collectively.

Growth Opportunities
These are areas the team would like to develop further.

Conflict Resolution
Note the conflict resolution processes of the team.

Decision-Making
This is the strategy the team follows to make sound decisions.

Team Mission
Why does our team exist? How does this align with company goals?

Learn and Grow with CMOE

The CMOE team encourages you to leverage this agreement template form to elevate collaboration, communication, and camaraderie among your colleagues.

For more guidance or support on aligning team actions and decisions, look into CMOE’s Team Development Products & Services. We design our portfolio of workshops and solutions to help teams of all levels and backgrounds achieve their full potential.