5 Minutes on Simple Agreements for Emergent Landscapes

In emergent landscapes we can’t rely on usual ways of planning.

Uncertainty, change, and unpredictability all abound. Making it hard, and ineffective, to focus on planning.

But we do have other tools at our disposal.

Instead of making plans, we can focus on how we want to be together.

And especially, how we want to be together in times of uncertainty.

Which brings us to the third, and final, Emergent Landscape tool we are going to explore together.

(This is part 4 of a 4 part series. Need to catch up before you read on? You can do that here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

Emergent Landscape Tool #3:

Create some simple agreements about how you want to be together in times of uncertainty and instability.

Many teams might already have simple rules or team agreements about how you want to be together. If you don’t, now is the time to create them. Here’s a process I share with my clients and trainees.

When you add the specific lens of “in times of uncertainty” what comes up?

You might need to add a new agreement or add language to an existing agreement.

Maybe you need to add language about failure, mistakes, and risk taking.

Or clarify how you want to be in times of disagreement and conflict.

You are co-creating the patterns that will help your team move through an emergent landscape.

Emergent landscapes are a good time to bring extra attention to team agreements.

Afterall, how you work together is even more important when you don’t have the usual planning processes to fall back on.

Instead of focusing on how to set team agreements, which is covered in so many other places (including my download), we’re going to focus on two things that often get left out of the process.

1. Integrating organizational values to your team agreements.

2. Surfacing the implicit agreements that live in your team.   

Let’s dig in.

1. Integrating organizational values to your team agreements.

Most organizations have values.

Respect, integrity, trust, passion, innovation…

Whatever the values are, take some time as team to explore them.

What do these values look like in action on your team?

How do you know if your team is acting by these values or has strayed from them?

How are these values reflected in your team agreements?

Get specific.

When was a time your team lived up to these values? When was a time one of these values wasn’t present enough?

Pay attention to what you’re uncovering as you answer these questions as a team. Perhaps some of your team agreements can be tweaked to bring your organizational values alive.

2. Surfacing implicit agreements that live in your team.

All teams have implicit agreements about how they work together.

Unspoken and unquestioned patterns that guide their dynamics.

These patterns can help or hinder your work as a team.

Uncovering them and naming them can help you build on what’s useful and let go of what’s not working.

Spend some time together as a team surfacing them. Make it okay to surface even difficult ones.

Here are some examples of what you might uncover:

• It’s not okay to disagree with the supervisor.

• Disagreements among team members are whispered about in halls after team meetings but not openly discussed.

• Time scarcity drives our agendas and we rarely take time to explore more deeply as a group.

• Failures or mistakes are shameful and swept under the rug.

• Failures or mistakes are bad and it is common to blame each other when things go wrong.

• Team members who talk a lot have the best ideas and answers.

• Getting to know each other is not as valuable as just getting the work done.

• It’s important to be decisive and confident at all times.

After uncovering these implicit agreements, take time to consider which ones serve your team purpose and goals, and which ones don't.

The ones that serve you, having been identified, are now explicit agreements. It might make sense to add them straight to your team agreements.

Consider how to let go of the ones that don't serve you. Can you create a new agreement that helps you make a shift in the right direction?

Team agreements, that are alive and functioning, can help your team more effectively move through an emergent landscape.

(Download my PDF: Keeping Team Agreements Alive).

Having a strong foundation of organizational values and uncovering the implicit agreements on your team is next level.

If you have time, pause right now.

What organizational values are present in your team agreements and what might be missing?

What implicit agreements on your team come to mind?