Increase Productivity and Reduce Stress by Implementing Agreements with Your Team

June 26, 2024
Category: Productivity

by Bill Silverman

I’m a morning person, my wife, Nancy, is not. One morning a few weeks into our marriage Nancy stopped me while I was chatting away and said, “Listen, I’m not a morning person like you. Would it be ok if we don’t talk much until I’ve had my coffee and I’m fully awake?” It sounded like a reasonable request, so I agreed, and I’ve been honoring that agreement ever since.

So, why I’m telling you this? Because that simple agreement between Nancy and me has significantly reduced the morning stress and strife throughout our marriage and just like in our marriage, creating agreements with your team can have the same positive effect in your business.

Agreements serve as the ground rules that outline the expectations, responsibilities, and boundaries for how your team will interact, work together, and address issues that come up. The agreements you create can be formal documents that everyone on your team signs or informal handshake agreements between two people. Formal or informal, I’ve found that agreements can improve communication, strengthen accountability, and create more successful, productive, working relationships.

Here’s an example of a simple handshake agreement between one of my clients who was constantly getting interrupted by his team: “If my door is shut, don’t come in, knock, text or call… unless the building is burning down, or we have a major client problem.” This simple agreement had a major impact on my client’s ability to get his work done without interruption.

Here’s one of 10 formal written agreements that one of my clients created with his management team: “If you have a problem with someone, talk to them. If there is something you feel isn’t working, get together and create a better way. This agreement kept my client out of the middle of many issues and encouraged his team to take ownership of their issues and work together to solve them.

Successfully implementing agreements with your team requires a commitment from everyone involved. Here are the key steps to ensure success:

1. Develop a First Draft: As you’ve probably guessed, there are an infinite number of agreements that you could create. My suggestion is for you to start by creating draft agreements for the biggest problems that keep you and your team from being productive or stress everyone out. Shoot for 10 or less.
2. Get Input from Your Team: Share your draft agreements with your team and work together to develop the final list. Ensure that everyone has a chance to contribute to the process and that your final agreements are specific, clear, and actionable.
3. Get Commitment: Make sure that everyone understands the final agreements and get their commitment verbally or in writing that they will honor these agreements.
4. Lead by Example: Demonstrating your commitment to the agreements through your actions and behavior. This sets a positive tone for the rest of the team and reinforces the importance of adhering to the agreements.
5. Celebrate Successes: Celebrate successes and achievements that result from implementing your agreements. 
6. Review and Update: Regularly review your agreements to ensure that they remain relevant and effective. Collect feedback on what’s working well and what could be improved and adjust as needed.

By following these key steps, you can successfully implement agreements with your team and create a more effective, productive, less stressful working relationship with your team.

Give it a try!

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