Working Agreement – Part 2
See Part 1
Facilitating Working Agreement Session:
Since talking about difficult and often hidden dynamics is the point of the working agreement session, it’s impossible to predict where the conversation will go and what feelings will arise. For this reason, it’s helpful to be armed with some basic tools for facilitation and coaching.
Before going into the session, set an intention for the type of energy you will bring as a facilitator. If you are confident about the value of the session, the team will feel confident too, and the discussion will be productive. If you project awkwardness about it, the team will feel awkward too.
Start the session off by explaining what the team will be doing, why they’re going to be doing it, and what they’ll get out of the session. E.g., “In this session, you’ll be creating working agreements. We’re doing this activity because it will help make you a better team. And the research is clear: teams that invest in working agreements outperform those that don’t. Does anyone have any questions before we start?”
If it is the first time a team is meeting each other, start with an icebreaker to help people get to know each other and feel comfortable with one another before getting started.
If team members already know each other, a check-in activity can be done. For a team agreement workshop, check-in questions could be:
- Tell us about a team you worked in that felt successful—what were the characteristics of that team?
- When you think about teamwork, which positive attributes pop up in your mind?
Dive into creating the working agreement, by asking questions prepared in advance and taking notes in a visible place. Capture only the major points of alignment as they arise, do not need to capture everything that is being discussed.
Do not ask each person to brainstorm the ideas on sticky notes as it takes a long time and using stickies and then dot voting is a recipe for groupthink, which leads people sharing similar ideas and marginalizing differing opinions as people can feel social pressure to side with the majority.
Remember that it’s more important to hear every opinion than it is to hear from every person. This can be accomplished by asking, “what perspectives haven’t we heard yet?” or “who has a different opinion on this issue?” If one person is speaking more than others, I might ask the question “who haven’t we heard from yet?” or “let’s first hear from somebody who hasn’t spoken in a while.”
Dig deeper in the responses of each question. For example, ask How will the team create an environment that’s safe? – and then ask follow up questions like, if the answer was respect, how do you know people are being respectful? What concrete observable behaviors do you associate with respect? For some, respect might mean showing up on time, while for others respect might mean allowing people to speak without interruption. When the team reaches these points of alignment on specific and important behaviors, then it’s time to start writing things down.
Help enrich the working agreement by asking questions. The following questions can be helpful:
- When and how do you expect each other to be available (this is especially important in remote work)?
- What is our expected response time?
- How do you prefer to communicate? Are there different preferences?
- How do you want to be with each other in conflict?
- Often follow up with a clarification of Scrum-relevant aspects such as:
- Who is now a team member and who is not?
- Which sprint length do you choose?
- When do you want to do our daily scrums?
Check for alignment on the last point at least after each section and once at the end by asking this question “how close is what we have written down to being good enough?” When someone’s thumb is pointing downwards or to the side, I ask for their perspective. And when everyone’s thumb is pointed up, we move on.
Another way is to say “It is important for us to have consensus, meaning we each agree with the guidelines, before we adopt them. I am going to read through the list, and then I will ask each of you individually if you agree to use or adopt these working agreements. A simple yes or no will be fine.”
Before ending the session, ask these questions to ensure the agreements are not forgotten and that the team stays accountable to them:
- How will you keep these agreements visible and current?
- How will you keep each other accountable when agreements are violated?
- What can each person be responsible for?
When working agreement is being created for a short session you can ask the questions like:
- What type of atmosphere do we want to create together?
- What do we need from each other to get the most out of this experience?
And close by saying something like this to confirm the agreement, “We, the members of this team, agree to these ways of showing up for each other and the team so that we may create the most positive and values-driven environment in order to unlock our fullest potential and bring our full selves to our shared experience.”
Example of working agreements for a meeting
- Share all relevant information
- If you miss a meeting, support decisions made in your absence
- Stay on subject; stay on task
- Be constructive
- Listen to each other
- Observe time frames
- Keep to time and agenda
- Start and end meetings on time
- Take risks
- All ideas are valid
- No side conversations
- Participate fully
- Think creatively
- Share responsibility for the meeting’s effectiveness
- Respect and share air time • Be brief – share air time
- Speak for yourself, not on behalf of others
- Differences of opinion are natural and useful
- One person talks at a time
- Take responsibility for what you need in the meeting
- Encourage everyone to participate
- Let group know your attendance plans
- Cell phones are off or on silent notification
- Respect confidentiality where appropriate
- Have fun
