Team Expectations Agreement

Teamwork isn’t always easy. But when teams work and communicate well, the benefits more than compensate for the difficulties. One way to improve the chances that a team will work well is to agree beforehand on expectations. Here’s how we’ll do that.

Assignment: At your first team meeting, create a Team Expectations Agreement. On a single sheet of paper, put your names and list the rules and expectations you agree as a team to adopt. We suggest that you start with this:

We all show equal commitment to our objective. We all take part in deciding how work should be allocated. We are committed to helping each other learn. We acknowledge good contributions from team members. We handle disagreements and conflicts constructively within the team. We are able to give constructive criticism to one another and to accept it ourselves. We all turn up to meetings and stay to the end. We are good at making sure that everyone knows what’s going on. When one of us is under pressure, others offer to help him or her. We trust each other. We remain united even when we disagree. We support each other to outsiders. We feel comfortable and relaxed with one another.

Feel free to modify as you wish. Make your expectations fairly thorough without being unrealistic. For example, “We will each solve every part of the assignment completely before we get together” or “We will get 100% on every assignment” are probably unrealistic. You might want to reference the section below on “Teamwork and Roles” as part of your expectations.

Each team member should physically sign the sheet, indicating acceptance of these expectations and intention to fulfill them. Scan the sheet, and upload it to the appropriate CMS assignment.

Assessment. These expectations are for your use and benefit. They won’t be graded.

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Acknowledgment: The base expectations agreement quoted above is from the University of Waterloo Centre for Teaching Excellence, citing Levin and Kent (2001).