Making the Team: A Guide for Managers

Use Ground Rules

It is imperative to let the group know that you will be using and enforcing meeting ground rules. You may want to acknowledge that the ground rules may seem somewhat silly or reminiscent of their school days, but that companies that use these ground rules are more effective. It is usually a good idea to have a typed-up list of ground rules to pass around and briefly walk through with members. An example list of ground rules is presented in Table A2-1. You may not want to use all of these rules, but they give you a starting point. If there is time, it is good to ask members to add to this list.

The most difficult challenge facing the consultant is enforcing the ground rules. They will get broken and the temptation will be to excuse ...