Team Meeting Tools
Teams have meetings to plan, execute, and evaluate the team’s work, but they can be inefficient if team members haven’t planned for them properly. The meeting support tools provided on this page are fill-in templates that can be customized to meet the needs of different teams.
When the Team is First Formed
CATME Team-Member Preparation Document (view) (download as .docx)↓
Team members complete these documents individually as soon as the team is formed, then circulate them to one-another by e-mail or a group dropbox before the team’s first meeting. This document allows team members to share information about their preferences regarding communication and team interaction, as well as their knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the team’s task. When everyone on the team reads these documents prior to the first team meeting, the team’s first meeting can be more efficient and productive.
During the Team’s First Meeting
CATME Team Charter (view) (download as .docx) ↓
This document summarizes critical information about team members’ preferred methods of contact and their strengths and weaknesses related to the project. It then leads the team through a discussion about how team members will interact to accomplish the team’s work. Completing the team charter requires team members to agree about team goals and what will be expected of team members.
Before the Team’s Subsequent Meetings
The next documents help students plan their meetings. Meeting agendas are circulated to all team members as far in advance of team meetings as practical. During meetings, someone takes minutes, or notes, about the meeting. The person designated to do this is called the recording secretary, or simply secretary. As soon as possible after the meeting, the secretary circulates the minutes by emailing them to all team members or posting them in a team dropbox.
CATME Agenda and Minutes (view) (download as .docx)↓
The CATME Team Agenda – Minutes Template is used for one meeting. The secretary completes a new document for each meeting. This template is the most appropriate if the team meetings are complex or deal with different issues or tasks for each meeting. The team’s members store the separate files for each meeting in one location that is accessible during team meetings. This could be a folder on a laptop computer or a notebook that contains paper copies of the minutes of each meeting.
CATME Repeated-Meeting Agenda and Minutes (view) (download as .docx)↓
The CATME Team Agenda – Minutes Repeated-Meeting Template is used for a series of team meetings working on the same project. This template may be convenient for student teams that meet throughout the semester working on one long project. The secretary adds the agenda for subsequent meetings to the same file as the minutes of the previous meetings. At the end of the semester, the one document contains a record of all of the team’s meetings.
References
Aaron, J. R., McDowell, W. C., & Herdman, A. O. (2014). The Effects of a Team Charter on Student Team Behaviors. Journal of Education for Business, 89(2), 90-97.
Mathieu, J. E., & Rapp, T. L. (2009). Laying the foundation for successful team performance trajectories: The roles of team charters and team performance strategies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94 (1), 90-103.