FREE 11+ Team Contract Samples in PDF | MS Word

To effectively manage a team, team leaders should have effective qualities to encourage the members to follow them, such as having sincerity, confidence, excellent communication skills, and respect. They should also be fair, kind, and well-organized. However, as a leader, you should know that acquiring these skills cannot guarantee that all the group members will follow your lead for many possible reasons. Fortunately, there are a handful of team action plans that you can utilize to fix relevant issues. One way to do it is by creating a team contract.

To effectively manage a team, team leaders should have effective qualities to encourage the members to follow them, such as having sincerity, confidence, excellent communication skills, and respect. They should also be fair, kind, and well-organized. However, as a leader, you should know that acquiring these skills cannot guarantee that all the group members will follow your lead for many possible reasons. Fortunately, there are a handful of team action plans that you can utilize to fix relevant issues. One way to do it is by creating a team contract.

What is a Team Contract

A team contract or team agreement is a document that contains an agreement between a leader and members of the group about how the team will perform. It includes an outline of the rules that everyone in the organization must follow. Sports groups, such as basketball and football, and students in high school and college are the ones who usually use this agreement to maintain order and promote teamwork. Aside from that, business people also use it in their project management to set proper expectations and smart goals for the team.

Contents of a Team Contract

Unlike, employment contract, a single document of a team contract is for the entire team. Meaning, each member doesn’t have to get his or her copy of the material to sign, but it does not mean that you can’t give other members a copy for them to effectively read its contents. Additionally, the contents of this contract may vary to its purpose. However, there are certain parts that you should include in this document to make it more formal.

Personal Information of the Team Members

In doing so, you have to write down the names of all group members. You may also include their contact information.

Expectations

A team contract includes the ground rules about attendance, the frequency, and duration of the meeting schedule and communications. The rules that you will write in the document should focus on the behaviors, which everyone should follow.

Assignments

Aside from the expectations, a team contract may also include tasks, roles, and responsibilities. Additionally, you may make these items time-bounded by adding a due date to each of the assignments tracker. Aside from that, you can leave spaces where each member can put their signature once they have completed each task.

Consequences

You may include the practical implications of not completing the task list that you have agreed to. You can also write the steps that the members should follow if problems arise during the process.

Members’ Signatures and Feedback

A typical team contract includes the signatures of all the members that will indicate that they all agree with all the clauses you involved in it. You can also reserve a space for the sample feedback to document the problems that you will encounter and quickly address them. Lastly, you will include another area for the members’ signature that will indicate the completion of the project.

11+ Team Contract Samples

Now you know the contents that you should include in your team contract. Let’s take a look at how this sample contract looks in real life. Just download the following templates and examples for free.

1. Team Contract Template

2. Basic Team Contract Template

3. Team Contract and Team Agreement Template

4. Developing a Team Contract Template

5. Sample Team Contract Exercise Template

6. Standard Team Contract Template

7. Sports Team Contract Template

8. Final Project Team Contract Template

9. Team Contract in PDF

10. Sample Competition Team Contract Template

11. Cattle Show Team Contract Template

12. Team Contract Example in DOC

Best Practices in Creating a Team Contract

Make sure that your team uses the team contract according to its proper uses by following the steps below.

1. Standardize by Using Universal Language

When creating a team contract, you should consider the knowledge of the members. For example, you include terms that lawyers use. However, you are leading a group of employees who just graduated in high school. Meaning, they do not have a background in law. If it is the case study, you have to explain these terms in a way that these people can easily understand the contents of the contract.

2. Associate the KPIs

One of the purpose statement of creating a team contract is to ensure the team attains its goals. For example, the use of the sample agreement that you are creating is to meet the required attendance. To do it, you can associate KPIs in the commitment. Set benchmarks that your team has to attain.

3. Be Realistic

Don’t waste your effort in creating a team contract by including unrealistic consequences and goals. If no one has reached a 100% rating of a specific KPI before, give a lower number. Pushing beyond the limits of your team can inflict more harm than good. It may cause team problems.

4. Make it Accessible

Serve your team contract as a guide that your team can follow. Make it accessible online by uploading it to the cloud. If it needs to be confidential, you can limit the access by assigning a password, which only your team can open.

5. Use Digital Means

Aside from the accessibility, using digital means can actually save your resources in materializing the expectations you included in the contract. For example, you are expecting everyone to attend a weekly meeting. To ensure that they don’t forget about it, send them a meeting notice. You may even include a meeting agenda in the notice that you are sending.

Having excellent leadership skills is crucial in managing a team, making it an essential skill to have in running a construction project management and other team-based projects. However, pairing it with a team contract in setting the goals and expectations will increase its effectiveness, making your job easier. Use the essential information that we have discussed in this article and build a team contract now!