By our definition, a team charter is a shared document (created collaboratively) which clarifies the direction of the team, while also setting behavioral expectations and norms.

It becomes a group artifact that helps define the way your team works together and is an incredible resource to provide to new team members, as it sets clear expectations from the start.

Why is this important?

Because culture happens - whether you're intentional or not.

Whether remote, hybrid, or in-person, certain beliefs, behaviors, and rituals emerge in every work environment. This is true for your company as a whole, but also for each individual team. At Want To Work There, we refer to these smaller team subsets as microcultures.

Creating a team charter is the perfect opportunity for your team to collaborate and design the intentional culture you’d like to build, instead of just allowing it to unfold as it does.

By the end of this process, the whole team will be able to confidently articulate:

Our Team Why

• What value does your team's efforts bring to the organization?
• What does your team do better than anyone else?
• What would suffer most if your team didn't exist?

What We Value

• What is one high standard you wouldn’t sacrifice for anything?
• In what cases can you say ‘no’ to or respectfully push back on a customer or teammate?
• How would you hope others in the organization describe your team?

Behaviors We Reward

• What behaviors do we exhibit when we're doing our best work as individuals? As a team?
• What behaviors have helped us achieve our biggest wins and milestones?
• What behaviors would we most like to see rewarded with a promotion?

Behaviors We Avoid

• What behaviors do we exhibit when we're doing our worst work as individuals? As a team?
• What behaviors are we doing that are performative, but not actually conducive to doing our best work?
• What behaviors would we be frustrated to see displayed by someone receiving a promotion?