10.8
GROUNDRULES: HELPING GROUPS
TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS RESULTS
Inspired by Peter Block and numerous other sources.Clear and empowering ground rules help leaders achieve results through workgroups and
teams. Thus, knowing how to establish and work with ground rules has become an essential
leadership skill in modern, knowledge-based organizations.
WHAT ARE GROUND RULES?
Often part of a team charter, ground rules are explicit guidelines that support and demand
healthy group process and member behavior. Similar terms include group norms, behavioral
guidelines, group operating principles, and so on. Ground rules can cover such things as:
✔ how decisions will be made ✔ how conflict will be managed
✔ how information will be recorded ✔ how meetings will operate
✔ how closure will be reached ✔ what preparation is expected before a meeting
WH YESTABLISH GROUND RULES?
Whether or not they are explicit, workgroups and even entire organizations have norms and
established patterns of interacting (e.g., who supports whom, how sensitive information is han-
dled). Over time, implicit norms and practices become embedded in the very fabric of a group
or organization, and take on the mantle of dogma. Despite the difficulty these norms may
cause, they come to be seen as normal, and as “how we do things around here.” Thus, although
some norms outlive their usefulness and become limitations on member satisfaction and group
success, they are nonetheless self-perpetuating, and challenging them can seem like heresy.
Explicit ground rules help to surface these norms, making them legitimate topics of discussion
and challenge. In this way, ineffective norms and dysfunctional patterns of interacting are
replaced. Over time, group satisfaction and achievement improve accordingly. [☛4.5 Culture]
HOW MAN YGROUND RULES, AND HOW MUCH TIME WILL IT TAKE?
The nature, scope, and number of ground rules that are needed to facilitate group success will
depend on a range of factors (e.g., the type of group interaction required, how much time the
group is expected to spend together). For a short-term task force, a few minutes may be suffi-
cient to establish a few key process and behavioral parameters. For long-term teams, a few
hours may be needed over a few meetings. Generally, a short list of the most critical ground
rules (six or seven) is more desirable than a long wish list.
320 SECTION 10 TOOLS FORLEADINGTEAMS ANDGROUPS