What you’ll leave with
The team leaves with three observable working agreements, named stewards and a review date.
Before the session
- Invite the whole working team, including people affected by its handovers. Explain whether the group can make decisions or is proposing them to a sponsor.
- Prepare a shared worksheet and one recent, low-stakes coordination example. Avoid using the meeting to adjudicate an unresolved personal complaint.
- Ask each person to consider one habit that helps and one source of friction. People may submit examples privately for anonymised discussion.
The run of show
Set the scope
Say: “Today we will agree on a few practical ways to work together. These are experiments we will review, not a statement of everyone’s personality.” Confirm what the group can decide and what needs outside approval.
Find useful patterns
Give everyone three minutes to write habits that help and points where work gets stuck. Invite examples without naming or blaming colleagues. Group observations under communication, decisions, handovers and support.
Select three priorities
Each person marks two areas where a clearer agreement would help. Discuss the top three. Ask who will be affected and whether their perspective is represented. Park other topics with a clear owner rather than squeezing them into vague rules.
Write observable agreements
In pairs, draft a sentence for each priority: “When [trigger], we [behaviour], using [channel or record], by [time].” Example: “When a deadline is at risk, we post the impact and a proposed next step in the project channel before the end of our working day.” Avoid “always communicate better.”
Test realistic situations
Try each agreement against a missed deadline, an urgent request and a colleague outside their working hours. Ask whether the rule is feasible across time zones. Record exceptions and an escalation route. Amend any agreement that requires people to be permanently available.
Commit and schedule review
Read each agreement aloud. Ask for concerns before asking for support. Assign a steward to keep the agreement visible, not to police colleagues. Set a review two weeks from now and define what evidence will tell you whether it helped.
Inside the participant worksheet
- Team purpose in one sentence
- People and working hours covered by this agreement
- Our three agreements | trigger | action | channel | timing
- Decision types | who decides | whose input is needed | where recorded
- Handover minimum information
- Urgent request definition and escalation route
- How to ask for support or raise a concern
- Exceptions and unresolved questions
- Agreement steward and review date
Debrief questions
- Which agreement is clear enough for a new colleague to use?
- What might make this hard to follow?
- How will we notice whether the agreement reduces friction?
Adapt it for your group
- For a new team, use hypothetical coordination examples and label the agreements provisional.
- For an established team, review one existing agreement before adding another. Retire rules that no longer help.
- For hybrid meetings, let everyone contribute through the same written channel and invite remote voices before in-room discussion.
After the session
Publish the one-page agreement in the team’s usual workspace. At the review, bring examples of what helped and what was hard. Revise the behaviour or conditions rather than assigning blame.
How to use the files
Print the PDF, edit the Word file in Word or Google Docs, or open the CSV agenda in a spreadsheet.
Can I use this with paying clients?
Yes. Use and adapt this original Superglue kit in your own training, including paid client sessions. Please share this page rather than redistributing the unmodified kit. Read the full usage terms.