How to create a team charter: a step-by-step guide

A practical framework for co-creating clear, motivating team agreements

Successful, high-performing teams can’t function on assumptions and unspoken rules. They need clarity on purpose, roles, behaviours, and how they’ll work together. A team charter (sometimes referred to as a team agreement, team contract, or ways of working) is a straightforward way to make those expectations explicit.

In our previous article, What Is a Team Charter and Why Every Team Needs One, we explore why charters matter and how they improve trust, alignment, and performance.

This article is the practical follow-up: a step-by-step guide to creating your own team charter, with a template and prompts you can use straight away.

Step 1: Involve the Right People

A charter only works if everyone is involved in creating it.

• Involve the whole team, not just the team leader. Buy-in comes from co-creation.

• Include stakeholders where relevant, especially if your team’s value is delivered through others.

• Use an external facilitator - a neutral facilitator helps balance voices, surface assumptions, and ensure everyone contributes.

Tip: Choose a setting that feels different from the day-to-day, an away day or workshop gives space for deeper conversation.

Step 2: Frame the Conversation

Before you dive into the template, set the tone:

• Explain why the charter matters (to build trust, clarity, and alignment).

• Create ground rules for the discussion (listen actively, respect each other, challenge constructively).

• Encourage everyone to participate, including the quieter voices, check for understanding, and capture ideas in real time.

Step 3: Work Through a Simple Template

A clear structure helps the team focus. Here are the essentials to cover (see illustration above for an example template).

Team Charter Template

Our Team

• What’s our team name?

• Who’s in the team?

• What are our roles and responsibilities?

• Where are the overlaps or gaps?

Our Purpose

• Why does this team exist?

• What do our organisation and stakeholders expect of us?

• What value do we bring to others?

• What do we aspire to be?

• What do we provide to other teams, and what do we need from them?

Our Objectives & Success Measures

• What are our key goals?

• What does success look like?

• What metrics or KPIs do we track?

Values & Behaviours

• What are the core principles that guide how we work together?

• What behaviours build trust and collaboration?

• What behaviours undermine us?

• How do we hold each other accountable?

Tip: Try “green card / red card behaviours”: what we encourage, and what we won’t tolerate.

Risks & Challenges

• What are the biggest risks or obstacles we face?

• How will we prepare for or respond to them?

Our Operating System

• Meetings: When, where and how often do we meet?

• Communication: How do we communicate (channels and tone)?

• Decision-making: How do we make decisions together?

• Working day: When do we work: hours, days, availability?

• Rituals & ceremonies: How do we connect as a team, and how do we celebrate success?

• Feedback & growth: How do we learn, give feedback, and support each other?

Step 4: Use Prompts to Spark Deeper Thinking

If the discussion feels flat, prompts can unlock richer answers:

• Who are our customers and how do we interact with them?

• What makes this team great? What could make it even better?

• How do we contribute to the wider organisation’s success?

These questions might feel playful, but they often surface insights about identity, energy, and ambition that formal ones miss.

Step 5: Capture It Clearly

Keep the language short, human, and in the team’s own words.

• Aim for one page — if it’s too long, no one will use it.

• Use visuals: a table or colour blocks make it easier to remember.

• Circulate the draft quickly so momentum isn’t lost.

Step 6: Make It Useful Beyond the Workshop

The biggest mistake teams make is filing the charter away and never using it again. To keep it alive day-to-day:

• Onboard new members - share the charter in induction.

• Reference it in meetings - especially when conflict arises or decisions stall.

• Use it in reflection - e.g. at the end of projects, ask “Did we live up to our charter?”

• Link it to performance - align behaviours and objectives with how the team is assessed and recognised.

Step 7: Review and Refresh

A charter is a living agreement. Creating it is only the start; deciding how you will review it is just as important, so agree a review cycle upfront → quarterly is common, but also after major change (new leader, restructure, new strategy). Ask reflective questions:

• Is this still relevant?

• What have we learned since we wrote it?

• What needs to be added, tweaked, or removed?

• Use simple tools: a Start / Stop / Continue exercise can keep the review practical.

• Treat reviews as energisers, not chores - keep them short and focused.

Remember: teams don’t move linearly through Tuckman’s forming–storming–norming–performing. They cycle back whenever membership, context, or purpose shifts. A regular charter review helps teams reset and move forward faster.

Keep It Simple, Keep It Alive

A team charter is one of the simplest and most effective tools for creating clarity, trust, and accountability. Making expectations explicit helps teams avoid wasted effort, build stronger relationships, and focus on what matters.

The real value is in the conversations it sparks — about purpose, behaviours, and how to be at our best. And the real power comes from treating it as a living, evolving agreement: revisited, refreshed, and used to guide daily work.

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Need help to create a team charter?

At Growth Space, we facilitate workshops for teams to co-create team charters and improve how they work together.

If you’d like to explore how this could support your team, get in touch >