Team chartering is what we believe is the minimum chartering required to successfully start a project or endeavour together with a team. We define this as chartering the purpose, the alignment and the context.
The purpose, alignment and context serve as a triad that compliment each other. It is a minimum because, as can be seen in the overlapping sections, without integrating all three aspects, there will be gaps – which eventually need to be resolved by the team in the future (usually at a higher cost).
If a liftoff only has purpose and alignment, the teams lack the context on how to deal with the business or where their boundary is.
When teams only charter alignment and context, teams will lack clear direction. They will stumble during tough decision without the understanding of why they should go in a particular direction.
When only purpose and context are chartered, then the teams won’t know how to work together.
In the middle of this triad, we have team chartering.
During a two-day liftoff we believe that the best way to start is with the team chartering. The chartering serves as a minimum, but it is not exhaustive. Further relevant activities can and should be integrated depending on the needs.
So, essentially, a liftoff is a container for all the activities that need to be undertaken to start a team. As a minimum, this should include the team chartering of purpose alignment and context (which amounts to nine core activities).