One of the most impactful strategies for building camaraderie among a team or establishing trust within teams is by creating shared norms. I’d never done this until a leadership course cohort nearly a decade ago, and I immediately saw the value. Since then, I’ve used the norms process for numerous teams, sub-teams, and retreats.
Norms: principles of right action binding members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior.
Merriam-Webster
Benefits of Norms
Before walking through building norms, I wanted to share a few reasons norms are effective. Here are a few of the benefits I’ve seen:
- Co-creation of the experience – Everyone builds norms together and has a chance to share what should be considered. In low-trust environments, giving everyone a voice is key.
- Shared accountability – The responsibility to uphold norms rests with the full team. Giving everyone on the team responsibility to uphold the norms helps the team align on a shared purpose.
- Descriptive process – Building norms requires working together and articulating meaning, helping create shared experiences. If a team is new, working through the norming process can help create an early win.
- Not personal – Norms are agreed upon and not personal, making it much easier to critique a behavior instead of a person. When corrections have to be made, it’s much easier to do when it’s based upon agreed-upon rules.
Building Norms
The process to build norms should involve every member of the team. Again, it’s about shared creation, so it should be led by a facilitator who is making sure everyone has a role in the conversation. The needed supplies are a whiteboard or flip chart and something to write with.
Popcorning
The first stage is brainstorming what norms are needed. To do this, ask members of the team to “popcorn out” ideas and capture all of them. In this phase, there are no wrong answers, and there doesn’t need to be much description. That will come later. The goal of the facilitator is to capture the ideas from the group, ensuring every team member has contributed at least one norm. The facilitator should keep going until everyone has offered an idea, and the ideas are no longer coming.
Sample norms: Polite technology, Assume good intent, Be prepared
Clarifying
The second stage is clarifying. This involves making sure everyone understands what a particular possible norm means. In this phase, the facilitator asks each person to explain their norm in a sentence or two. The facilitator should jot a couple of key words down beside the norms. There is still no judgment, only discussion. Regardless of how self-explanatory the norm may seem, every norm should be described. This makes sure each person in the room is part of the conversation.
Sample description: Polite technology means that we have to be on our devices on occasion. However, we make a decision to be present and minimize distractions to others when we have to use our technology.
Condensing
The real work happens at this level. The role of the facilitator is guiding the group in consolidating the norms. The group should discuss things that might be combined into a single norm. The facilitator should follow the suggestions of the team to combine and see where overlap exists. It’s also important to note that some norms may be close but different enough to remain. The facilitator should guide the group in this as a conversation and encourage discussion.
Sample condensing: Completing tasks and having supplies might be combined into being prepared for the work of the meeting.
Adoption
Norms work best when the group can align on 10-15 norms. However, that rule doesn’t have to be hard and fast. The facilitator should continue leading until the norms left feel different enough that further condensing becomes too difficult or too forced. At this point, the facilitator should do a final check of what is missing. If something comes up, it should go back through clarifying and condensing before being added to the list. If nothing comes forward, the group should consider adoption. For adoption, the facilitator should ask each person if they are in support of the norms and ensure each person weighs in. Once the norms are adopted, the facilitator should congratulate the group and make sure the norms are shared electronically for reference.
Sample adoption: We have looked at the norms now. Sarah, do you feel good about adopting these?
Review
When norms are new, frequent review is helpful. It may be important to remind the team about operating in meetings using the norms until they become a habit. Norms can also be printed and handed out among team members. Additionally, as new people join the team or a new year begins, it is a good time to revisit the norms to see what has changed. Especially as a team grows in culture, more foundational norms may not be needed and might be replaced by other norms that better support the current challenges of the group.
Sample review: At our meeting this week, we are going to remember our norms when working with one another throughout the discussion on ways to improve the project for next year.
Sustaining Norms
As a leader, keeping the norms front and center is key to ongoing success. Model the behavior in meetings with campus partners, one-on-ones and in sub-teams in the office. Using norms can be game-changing in creating culture, but they work best when used consistently across the organization.
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