Team charters provide team members with clarity around the purpose, mission and goals of the team. For virtual teams a team charter adds even more value! It is essential in ensuring understanding of what the team has been tasked with doing for the organization. While the charter should, ideally, be developed in conjunction with your project team, there are some components of the charter that the project manager should complete ahead of time and share with and get agreement from the team. This includes the purpose of the project team, the scope of the team’s project and major team milestones.
Team Charter Example:
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DETAILS (be specific) |
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Purpose |
Why is the team being formed? To develop a leadership training program for individuals moving from supervisory roles to manager roles to ensure effectiveness within the manager role.
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Scope |
What is the scope of the initiative? What are the objectives? The leadership training program should be no more than 10 days in length and should include information needed to be successful in a manager role. In addition to workshops it should include a mentoring component and action planning. The training program should be developed based on the following:
The program is being developed to address the following issues (at a high level):
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Team Composition |
Who are the team members? What are the functional areas/divisions/vendors they represent? What is the geographical location? Are they full time or part time? What is the estimated duration of their time on the project? |
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Team Member |
Functional Area/ Vendor |
Geographic Location/Time Zone |
Full time/Part time; Amount of time on initiative |
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Jack Smith |
HR |
US/East Coast |
Part Time – at beginning of project during design |
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Alice Johnson |
Learning & Development |
US/West Coast |
Full Time throughout project |
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Sam Malone |
Course Developer |
London |
Full Time through pilot release |
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Etc. |
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Etc. |
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Team Operations |
Include: decision-making processes, ground rules for working together, technology used, etc.
Decision-making: consensus will be used to make decisions <Include additional operational information such as how documentation will be kept, use of a portal, lessons learned, etc.>
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Major Team Milestones |
What are the expected milestones for the initiative?
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Prior to the initial team meeting to discuss and develop the team charter, do the following:
- Distribute a copy of the partially completed team charter for review at least one week before the initial team kick off meeting.
- Ask the team members to give some thought to the team charter components and be prepared to provide input/ideas/suggestions at the initial team meeting.
In the example above, the project manager would provide the following completed – purpose, scope, major milestones. (S)he would get feedback from the team on the purpose, scope and major milestones and then would develop the other components with the team.
Team charters are a great way to get the team started off right on the project – thinking about what they need to accomplish and how they will work together.
