Team Compact 2f3426

TEAM COMPACT

SM131 FALL  2015 (B1)

Introduction Throughout this semester, teams will engage in two team assignments and engage in team checkpoints. In order to have a successful and positive team experience this term in SM131, it is important for your team to discuss and agree to a common goal, clear expectations, roles, and responsibilities for working together this semester to complete your team assignments. During the Team Checkpoints, teams will evaluate team process and progress based on their ability to meet the established expectations. If expectations are not being met, it will be the responsibility of the team to retool their strategies to ensure that the team process is oriented towards meeting them. Timeline

Friday, Sept 18th

In-Class Team Compact Workshop

Monday Sept 21st

Draft of Team Compacts Due

Friday Sept 25th

TA’s to return Drafts w/ Comments

Monday Sept 28th

Final Draft of Team Compacts Due

Keep in Mind The Team Compact should address the following: 1. Goals – what does your team plan to accomplish this semester? Write the goals so that they are clear, well-defined, and measurable. How will you know if you have been successful in achieving your goals? 2. Expectations for Behavior and Performance – what are your expectations for working together this semester? What are team ’ responsibilities to the team? What are the guidelines for behavior, communication, and work quality that you expect? 3. Roles- activities or duties assigned to each team member to help achieve the team’s goals The Process What is it? It is a document that clarifies what each team member can do to reach high performance. The compact is a reminder of what values are important to the team and everyone’s responsibility to take action to help the team complete assignments during the

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TEAM COMPACT

SM131 FALL  2015 (B1)

semester. It is a written commitment indicating how each member will share responsibility for shared learning and task accomplishment. Why create one? The purpose of the agreement is to help student team come to consensus on the responsibilities of each team member and the timelines for project completion. The underlying assumption will be that the team’s success will be improved upon if all team work together toward a common goal. If the compact is taken seriously and team work collaboratively then the teams will experience success. To ensure that the compact is understood by all team , an honest discussion regarding individual skills, goals and prior team experiences must be conducted. Each team member must take inventory on what they have for skills to help the team as well as what skills they would like to learn. Next, the team should discuss prior team experiences and what made such experiences successful or not. What values or behaviors helped the team achieve success or hindered the team from success? Having this discussion and coming to agreement on values/behaviors/expectations that the team wants to adopt or avoid will assist the team in having a successful semester. What’s the end result? If written successfully with the input, understanding and agreement of all team , the compact can serve as a tool to effectively and meaningfully engage all team in the tasks that the team is charged with this semester. How should the discussion to create the compact develop? Bring and discuss your answers to the above questions to your first team meeting. From your discussion, develop an overall team goal for the semester. Your goal(s) should be specific, defined and measurable such that at the end of the semester, any member can look back upon the time together and say, “ yes we did” or “no we didn’t” achieve our goal. From this goal, discuss values and behaviors that will help your team achieve this goal. Define these values and behaviors in of expectations of each team . It is critical that each team member openly discuss these expectations and have a clear understanding of what behaviors are needed to help the team reach success What are the steps to create one for our team? 1. Complete the Team Compact Worksheet 2. Hold a team discussion regarding your expectations for this semester 3. Create a Team Compact

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TEAM COMPACT

SM131 FALL  2015 (B1)

Team Compact Worksheet What special skills or knowledge can I contribute to the team?

What skills need further development?

What worked well in my past team experience that I might find useful for my new team?

What is my hope or goal for this semester regarding my team?

What hindered my last team experience, meaning what could we have done better?

What is my fear or concern this semester regarding my team?

What do I need or want to get out of this semester to make it worthwhile for me?

Notes:

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