Team agreements record how a team does things together, especially the things that are not in a protocol. They only work if they are made together, written down briefly and come back regularly in team meetings.
Inconsistent ways of working within teams is a signal many team leaders recognise. One shift reports at length, another briefly. One person calls the family straight away, another waits until the next day. Nobody is doing it wrong, but the client notices the difference. Team agreements bring consistency, without you having to capture everything in rules.
Team agreements cover the practical side of working together: how the handover goes, when and how you report, who picks up what in an incident, how you communicate with relatives and how you handle materials. They are the agreements that are written down nowhere else, yet determine whether the work runs calmly and predictably.
An agreement imposed from above rarely holds. I guide the conversation in the team and look for what people already do well. Then we write it down in clear language:
Calm, overview and clear communication are my starting points. A list of ten clear agreements is worth more than a twenty-page document.
Recording them is only the beginning. Agreements fade if they do not come back. Put them on the team meeting agenda as a fixed item, discuss what works and what does not, and adjust where needed. New and temporary colleagues receive the agreements when they start, so that they work the same way from day one. You can read more about making them last in embedding working agreements after an assignment. Would you like help with this, take a look at consistent working agreements or schedule an introductory meeting.
I help with this through quality improvement and consistent working agreements. Want to know what that means for your organisation? Schedule an introduction.
Start with the three agreements that currently cause the most discussion. If those land well, willingness to record the rest grows too.
A protocol describes a care task or policy. Team agreements are about how the team works together around that care, for example in handover, reporting and communication with relatives.
By making the agreements short and visible and explaining them at handover or in a following meeting. Ask for their response too, so they feel ownership.
Yes. Someone who supports the team temporarily can guide the conversation neutrally and work out the agreements. Ownership stays with the team.
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