Applying a team charter to drive process improvement

Too often teams spend a considerable amount of their valuable resources trying to figure out what it is they are supposed to do, write contributors John Moran, Grace Duffy and Michael Rudis. Before starting any type of a process improvement work, it is important to know where you are headed. Here is how a team charter can help.

What is a team charter?

A team charter is the official document from the team sponsor that empowers the team to act. It is a written document describing the mission of the team and how this mission is to be accomplished. The team charter is one of the most under-used and under-valued tools available to sponsors, team leaders, and facilitators for helping a team succeed.

However, it is often overlooked because it is time consuming to develop. To write a clear, concise, and inclusive team charter requires great forethought and effort. Often the sponsor is in such a rush to start the teaming process that they skip the basic step of filling out a team charter that clearly defines the goals and objectives to be achieved.

When a team is started without a formal, team charter many meetings are often wasted trying to figure "why we are here, what we should do, and when it should be done." The team spends a considerable amount of time and energy trying to second guess what the sponsor really wanted when the team was formed. This is a loss of valuable time and talent that could be avoided by designing a clear mission statement prior to the team’s formation. That is why a sponsor must take the time to fill out a team charter

The team charter is an official work contract. This document delineates the strategic goals, boundaries, measures of success, constraints/limits, and available resources. It provides a framework for ongoing discussions between the team and its sponsor with regard to the team’s direction and progress.

It is an iterative process until a base line acceptance is established. It must be reviewed on a regular basis by the sponsor, the team leader, facilitator, and team members to ensure that it is reflective of what the team is doing or will be doing in the future.

The team charter is a repetitive process until a base line acceptance is established. It must be reviewed on a regular basis by the sponsor, team leader, facilitator, and team members to ensure that it is reflective of what the team is doing or will be doing in the future.

Using the team charter in a public health department

The following example of the use of a team charter in a public health department is an excellent adaptation of the concepts in the original team charter article to provide a guidance document to beginning Process Action Teams.

The Delaware Public Health Process Action Team (PAT) Charter is the official document from the executive sponsor that empowers the PAT to act. It is a written document describing the mission of the team and how this mission is to be accomplished.

The PAT Charter is one of the most under-used and under-valued tools available to executive sponsors, team leaders, and facilitators for helping a team succeed. The PAT Charter is often overlooked because it is time consuming to develop. To write a clear, concise, and inclusive PAT Charter requires great forethought.

Too often folks are in such a rush to begin the teaming process that they skip the basic step of completing a PAT Charter that clearly defines the goals and objectives to be achieved. The executive sponsor must take the time to complete a PAT Charter so the team will clearly understand the why, what, who, when, and where of the process they are to undertake.

The PAT Charter is an official work contract. This document delineates the strategic goals, boundaries, measures of success, constraints/limits, and available resources. The PAT Charter provides a framework for ongoing discussions between the PAT and its executive sponsor with regard to the team’s direction and progress.

After a few iterations of this charter, the executive sponsor, team leader, and facilitator will have a written document that describes in detail what the team is to accomplish. This becomes the official work contract for the team leader and the facilitator to begin the teaming process.

As an option, you may use the "Working Copy" of the PAT Charter to draft the document (freely available for download here). When you have a document that the executive sponsor, team leader and facilitator agree upon, enter the information into the form copy. This will serve as the official document that all players will sign and work from.

For a full downloadable version of the PAT Charter forms please download the PDF here: Creating a Project Team Charter - Template

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