You’re likely familiar with the term, company team charter, but may not be aware of the importance of this type of document. A team charter template will help define your team goals and guide behaviors.
Tactics for implementing the strategies outlined in a team charter are typically documented in a separate business plan rather than in a team charter itself. A team charter template will help guide your organization from a general direction to specific tasks and targets.
The absence of a comprehensive team charter can cause conflict among members who have competing expectations for the goals of the organization or business unit. The key to developing an effective team charter template is providing enough structure while still retaining the flexibility to allow each member of your organization or business unit to make an individual contribution toward the success of this organization.
Table of Contents
Team Charter Templates
Establish a strong foundation for collaboration and teamwork with our comprehensive collection of Team Charter Templates. A Team Charter is a document that outlines the purpose, goals, roles, and expectations of a team. Our customizable and printable templates provide a structured framework for creating a Team Charter that promotes clarity, accountability, and effective communication among team members. Whether you’re forming a project team, a departmental team, or a cross-functional team, our templates cover essential sections such as team objectives, individual roles and responsibilities, decision-making processes, and conflict resolution strategies.
By utilizing our Team Charter Templates, you can align team members, set clear expectations, and enhance team performance. Streamline the team formation process, foster a culture of collaboration, and drive successful outcomes with our user-friendly templates. Download now and create a Team Charter that lays the groundwork for a high-performing and cohesive team.
Benefits of using a team charter template
In any organization, the team charter template is a living document that allows the mission statement of the company to be expressed in clear, actionable – and at the same time inspirational – terms. This ensures that there are no gaps within the team as far as understanding what is expected at different stages of implementation. In turn, this saves confusion and unnecessary worrying about whether there is still support from members.
You’ve decided to get a team together. Now you need to figure out how you will structure this team. The most common structure for teams is the use of a team charter. A team charter is essentially the operating agreement for your team, and it’s a very powerful one too.
What are the elements of a team charter?
A team charter sample is one of the most vital templates you will need when planning out your company. A charter sample gives you the information you will require to set up a team effectively. A team charter template can be used as an outline that establishes the specific roles and responsibilities of each staff member.
While creating a team charter may seem daunting, it is actually pretty simple. The trick to coming up with the ultimate team charter template is to remember both the macro and low-level components. By doing so, you will be able to develop a comprehensive document that serves as a playbook for your teams. The basic components of such a document are:
Team Purpose
The purpose is a concept that most people can relate to. It means communicating to a group of people what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and how the results will benefit the team.
Time Commitment and Duration
You need to document the time commitment in your team charter example. You should dedicate a specified duration for brainstorming and the outputs it will generate for decision-making. For example, a considerable decision will likely require more time than a smaller one. This will enable you to create a realistic, actionable plan with clear goals and objectives that many can agree on without being constrained by time.
Scope
The scope is a term used to formally define the job or project’s duty. It helps a team determine the start and end of their spectrum. The scope also helps to reduce scope creep by clearly defining what is included in the project and what isn’t.
Members of the Team
Being part of a team means that you have to work together with colleagues to achieve the goals of your job. This makes teamwork very important in every job because if you don’t work well with your teammates, chances are you won’t succeed in your career.
The End Result You Want
Include this part when your company needs to fit in a special niche, like creating marketing campaigns for specific industries. In such cases, you will have to focus on selected verticals instead of applying tactics and strategies to a wider range of industries. Think of it as choosing the keyhole through which you want your company’s key to passing.
Supporting Resources
You can add team members, advisors, and sponsors to a task. You can also add other people who have a vested interest in the outcome of the task. For instance, you might have the venue owner on board in an event management task.
Reporting Plan
Creating a reporting plan can help ensure that your efforts are focused and effective tracking. It also helps to set expectations, so everyone on the team knows what is expected. Make sure to define how often you will be doing this, the format of the report (Excel, Google Docs), and what will be included in each report: examples include weekly tracking spreadsheets, monthly benchmarks/key metrics, etc. The setting definition also ensures that there will be consistency across the team’s reports.
Deliverables
Part of the fun of working with a team is that you’re all making something. If you’re all working for the same thing, and your work matters, then each person on your team should have clear deliverables. These are easy to track and measure, so it helps you ensure the team is making progress.
How to Create a Team Charter
A team charter template is an indication of what is going to be achievable. This will increase the productivity and output of many employees because they all have to follow specific guidelines in the organization. When planning a team charter, it should include its purpose, vision, mission, goals, objectives, and target dates. A team creates a vision statement by identifying its values and strengths, which will help them know what they need to do. The different elements which are going to be included in the template are:
Background
The background is a great place to get started on your team charter. Here, you will fill in the details of the problem and how the audience should feel once the problem has been solved.
Mission of your team
Your company’s mission is to provide your customers with fast, reliable, and affordable service. To achieve this mission, your team needs to maximize the use of existing resources and minimize spending on extra capacity.
Create your budget
Creating your budget is the next step after getting a clearer picture of the success of your project. Understanding your project’s resources and funds will help you make a budget.
Roles and responsibilities of team members
Having defined all of the roles and responsibilities both for your project and for the specific goals you want to achieve also means that you must have been able to define a clear chain of command. Project management is all about getting things done, and for this, there should be a character with the highest authority who takes responsibility in the face of any specific problem. A good matrix is always structured so that everyone involved knows who decides on whether or not to continue with or change an activity.
Team operations
Team Operations helps our teamwork smoothly together, ensuring that the tasks are accomplished on time and effectively. It’s important to have consistent procedures and processes in a project to make it more effective. One of those documents is Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). Basically, it’s a project procedure that will be used again and again during the life of the project.
Assess the members of the team
Your customer said she wants the marketing campaign to generate more leads, but the chances are that your project is much bigger than a single campaign. So now it’s time to be more explicit about what your project’s success would look like for each of the team members and how you will evaluate their performances. You may also want to add self or peer-to-peer evaluation components to your assessments. This gives you valuable information both for the present and for the future.
Get approvals and signatures.
At the end of a formal document, add a box for each person to sign. This is a formality itself, and it adds professional-looking signatures to the document. These signatures, or initials (depending on the formality of the document), signify that each person understands what the team has agreed upon and will abide by the terms.
FAQs
What should a team charter include?
A team charter should include the team’s purpose, goals, member roles and responsibilities, procedures, communication guidelines, decision-making process, conflict resolution, and measurements of success. It establishes the team’s mutual agreements.
What is the format of a team charter?
The format of a team charter typically includes the following sections:
- Team Name and Purpose
- Goals and Timelines
- Team Member Roles
- Ground Rules
- Meeting Arrangements
- Decision Making Process
- Communication Expectations
- Conflict Resolution Approach
What are the 5 R’s of team charter?
The 5 R’s of a team charter are:
- Rules – Group norms and expectations
- Roles – Member duties and responsibilities
- Relationships – Interaction guidelines
- Results – Goals, metrics, outcomes
- Review – Reassessing and updating charter
How do you write a charter for a team?
To write a team charter:
- Outline the team purpose, objectives, and timeframes
- Define each member’s roles and responsibilities
- Establish procedures for meetings, communication, decisions
- List guidelines for positive group dynamics
- Describe how conflicts will be resolved
- Get team’s input and agreement on the charter
