Group agreements and consensus

Ali RileyEnterprise Learning Development Officer

University of Sheffield Enterprise

www.sheffield.ac.uk/enterprise

By the end of today….

• You will be able to relate team work to enterprising skills

• You will have identified what worries you most about teamwork

• You will have identified strategies in order to help you work together as a team successfully

• You will have agreed upon a group goal and completed most of a team operating agreement

• You will have learned about some strategies to manage conflict.

What is enterprise?

“…enterprise is about having ideas, doing something about them and taking advantage of opportunities to

bring about change. It is about making things happen.”

Enterprise Education Mission, Vision and Strategy 2012 – 2016.

What is enterprise?

• Being proactive• Taking the initiative• Taking risks• Overcoming adversity• Innovation• Invention• Ideas generation• Creativity• Seizing opportunities

• Finding solutions• Entrepreneurship• Business• ‘Intrapreneurship’/

corporate entrepreneurship

• Social enterprise/ social innovation

• Creating value

Your worries about team work

Using the post-it notes, take 2 minutes

to write what worries you most about

working in teams.

Place it in the middle of your group

Goal definition

You have 5 minutes to agree in your groups your goal, in one sentence.

SpecificMeasurableAchievableRelevant

Time bound

Team Operating Agreement (TOA)

• Guidelines and ground rules to achieve the agreed goal

• Co-authored by group members – mutual agreement

• Living document• Updates must be discussed and ratified by ALL

group members

A TOA serves as…

• A job description for group members.• A contract between partners.• A set of guidelines for procedural operations

and ways of working together.• A roadmap of the expectations of the

partnership.• A document that implies, through its structure

and wording, the values, intentions and identity of a partnership.

Time budgeting

• Agree how much time you will each devote each week, whether individually or in the group.

Team Communications

• Method• Frequency

A word of warning…

Decision making

• How?

Meetings

• Responsibilities• Recording• Disseminating• Leading• Frequency

Personal courtesies/other

Examples:• Use clear English in all communications• Allow everyone 24 hours to respond to an

email• Don’t contact people by phone/text out of the

hours of 9-5

Signature!

First task out of class…

PROJECT PLAN• 1 side of A4• Define tasks• Assign tasks• Gantt chart• Including writing up

Add this to your TOA

Look back at your post-its.

Have your fears been at all alleviated?

If not, look back at your TOA, can you improve it at all?

Conflict resolution

• Anger – it happens. Separate yourself from the situation and take time to cool down

• Attack the problem not the person• Be assertive not aggressive• Focus on the issue, not your position on the

issue• Accept individual opinions, work towards a

common agreement, don’t force compliance

Conflict resolution

• Its not a competition, you are all working to a common goal

• Focus on areas of common interest and agreement

• Never jump to conclusions about the ideas/opinions of others

• Listen without interrupting• When only one person’s needs are satisfied,

the conflict is NOT resolved

Conflict resolution

• Forget the past, stay in the present• Build ‘power with’ NOT ‘power over’ others• Thank other group members for listening

Thank you very much!

Ali Rileya.h.riley@sheffield.ac.uk