The main goal of team contracting is to boost your team’s ability to communicate with each other, develop new productivity-enhancing habits, and create a group culture within the team through a mutually agreed-upon set of rules.

Team contracting is an agreement between teammates about how your team operates. People are unique, so every team will likely come up with a different working agreement. Team rules can cover both operational issues and soft/informal aspects. The most important part of creating a working agreement is that it must be done by the entire team.

Team contracting defines the rules of the game and creates a common language of behavior and a foundation upon which future processes can be built. It also minimizes friction between teammates and gives all team members a template for what is expected in their daily work. It can also be used to introduce new team members to the group culture, and because everyone has agreed to follow the rules, enforcing those rules becomes less awkward when infractions occur. Finally, the good practices encouraged by the agreement will eventually become habits that move the team forward while the bad habits are weeded out.

There is no one standard, so we adapt different workshop types for each team. The workshop format and length depend on team size and the topics that the team wants to concentrate on. Each session is discussed individually with the team leader, and the format and time are agreed upon.