Tool: Developing Team Norms

Step 1: Sharing Your Pet Peeves and Essential Traits

Instructions: In a team meeting, all members should share one pet peeve that they have while working in groups with others and one essential trait that others will notice while working in a group with them. Those peeves and traits should be recorded in the following chart by your team’s notetaker. They will be used to develop norms in step 2.

Team Member

Sample: Bill Ferriter

Pet Peeve

Sample: It drives me nuts when people are on their devices while we are engaged in important conversations.

Essential Trait

Sample: I make decisions quickly and am almost always ready to move on. That can drive people who need more think time than me crazy.

Questions for Team Reflection

Do you notice any patterns in the behavior of other team members that are pet peeves for you? What are they and why do you think they bother you?

What patterns in your own behavior are likely to bother other members of your learning team? Why?

What are some common actions you will need to take to make sure that your meetings feel productive to all team members?

Step 2: Brainstorming Your Norms

Instructions: Now, brainstorm four to six norms that describe how your team will respond when working through common team processes. Remember that norms are explicit statements designed to address the peeves and traits that your team detailed in step 1. If followed, your norms should create a working environment that honors and respects the needs of the individual members of your learning team.

Common Team Behaviors and Processes

Brainstorm a norm for each of the following common team behaviors and processes.

Making Shared Decisions Sample Norm

We will use our fist-to-five rating scale to give everyone the opportunity to express their level of agreement with shared decisions.

Our Norm

Handling Disagreements

Showing Respect to One Another

We won’t move forward with important decisions until everyone has had the chance to be heard and to offer alternatives to the ideas we are considering.

We will be active contributors in every meeting, adding thoughts, offering suggestions, and sharing our opinions.

Structuring Our Meetings

We will have a clear agenda for every meeting, with no more than three items.

Other:

Use this space to create a norm for other common behaviors or processes that your team addresses on a regular basis.

Questions for Reflection

Which of your team’s norms will be the easiest for you to follow? Which will be hardest?

Based on your team’s unique set of peeves and traits, which of your norms will be the most important to ensure that your collaborative work feels productive for everyone?

How will you hold each other accountable for adhering to your team’s norms? How will you celebrate moments when members are following your team’s norms?

Source: Adapted from Venables, D. R. (2011). The practice of authentic PLCs: A guide to effective teacher teams. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.