Team Norms Canvas
Develop explicit team rules and agreements.
PURPOSE
Unspoken expectations and unclear ground rules frequently lead to conflicts and inefficiency in teams. The Team Norms Canvas helps formulate shared behavioral norms and agreements explicitly. This creates a common understanding of how the team wants to collaborate.
HOW TO USE
The team comes together in a workshop to jointly develop norms for various areas such as communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution. The results are captured on the canvas and displayed visibly for everyone. The norms should be reviewed regularly and adjusted as needed.
WHAT IT IS
The Team Norms Canvas is a visual worksheet that maps different areas of team collaboration in a structured way. It provides fields for communication rules, meeting behavior, decision-making processes, and conflict management. The canvas was developed by SessionLab as a facilitation tool.
EXAMPLE
Example: Your cross-functional project team regularly argues about whether cameras must be on in remote meetings and who writes the minutes. With the Team Norms Canvas, you sit down together and explicitly agree on rules for meetings, communication channels, and decision-making processes. Afterwards, there is significantly less friction in daily work.