BUILDING TEAMS
“How can we work together interdependently to achieve shared
purpose?”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We welcome your suggestions for improving this guide further for future trainings. We also
welcome you to use it and adapt it for your own trainings, subject to the restrictions below.This
workshop guide has been developed over the course of man trainings by Liz Pallatto, Joy
Cushman, Jake Waxman, Devon Anderson, Rachel Anderson, Adam Yalowitz, Kate Hilton,
Lenore Palladino, New Organizing Institute staff, MoveOn Organizers, Center for Community
Change staff, Jose Luis Morantes, Carlos Saavedra, Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, ShuyaOhno, Petra
Falcon, Michele Rudy, Hope Wood, Kristen Dore and many others.
RESTRICTIONS OF USE
The following work [this workshop guide] is provided to you pursuant to the following terms
and conditions. Your acceptance of the work constitutes your acceptance of these terms:
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You may reproduce and distribute the work to others for free, but you may not sell the
work to others.
You may not remove the legends from the work that provide attribution as to source
(i.e., “originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz of Harvard University”).
You may modify the work, provided that the attribution legends remain on the work,
and provided further that you send any significant modifications or updates to
[email protected] or Marshall Ganz, Hauser Center, Harvard Kennedy School,
79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
You hereby grant an irrevocable, royalty-free license to Marshall Ganz and New
Organizing Institute, and their successors, heirs, licensees and assigns, to reproduce,
distribute and modify the work as modified by you.
You shall include a copy of these restrictions with all copies of the work that you
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If you have any questions about these terms, please contact [email protected] or
Marshall Ganz, Hauser Center, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
BUILDING TEAMS
OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this session, you will…
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Understand the core practices of successful leadership teams
Begin practicing those skills as a leadership team: developing a shared purpose, clarifying
team roles and responsibilities, creating shared ground rules and practices of
coordination
WHY DO ORGANIZING TEAMS MATTER?
The most effective leaders have always
created teams to work with them and to
lead with them. Take for example
Moses, Aaron and Miriam in the story of
Exodus, or Jesus and the twelve
disciples in the New Testament, or
Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy,
Rosa Parks, Jo Ann Robinson and E.D.
Nixon during the Montgomery Bus
Boycott.
Leadership teams offer a structural
model for working together that fosters
interdependent
leadership,
where
individuals can work toward goals together, with each person taking leadership on part of the
team’s activity. At their best leadership teams recognize and put to productive use the unique
talents of the individuals who make up the team.
WHY DOES TEAM STRUCTURE MATTER?
Team structures create strategic capacity—the ability to strategize creatively together in ways
that produce more vibrant, engaging strategy than any individual could create alone.
Movements are not built on command and control authority structures. But they can also be
ineffective beyond the local level if there is no structure for coordination and no venue for
creating shared purpose.
Strong movement structures enable local decision-making and strategizing by local leadership
teams that are supported by regional or national leadership teams which provide strategic
focus, common purpose and shared resources—our snowflake model of interdependent
leadership. At every level, leadership teams require a clear mission with clear goals and the
ability to strategize creatively together about how to carry out their mission and meet their
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
goals. This structure creates multiple points of entry for leaders at local, regional, national and
international levels, and multiple opportunities to learn and to exercise leadership.
Leadership teams provide a foundation from which an organization can expand its reach. Once
a team is formed, systems can be created to establish a rhythm of regular meetings, clear
decisions and visible accountability, increasing the organization’s effectiveness.
An
organization of 500 people is not accomplished by one person alone. It is built by finding
people willing and able to commit to helping build it, and creating relationships and a solid
structure from which it can be built.
WHY DON’T PEOPLE ALWAYS WORK IN TEAMS?
We have all been part of teams that have not worked well. They fall into factions, they alienate
each other, or all the work falls on one person. So many of us come to the conclusion: I’ll just
do it on my own; I hate meetings, just tell me what to do; I don’t want any responsibility; just
give me stamps to lick. There’s just one problem: we can’t become powerful enough to do
what we need to do if we can’t work together to build campaigns and take action.
The challenge is to create conditions for our leadership teams that are more likely to generate
successful collaboration and strategic action. When groups of people come together, conflict is
always present. Effective teams are structured to channel that conflict in productive ways,
allowing the team to achieve the goals it needs to win.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
FIVE CONDITIONS FOR TEAM SUCCESS
Strong teams are deliberate about setting up conditions for success from the very beginning.
Ruth Wageman and her colleagues have found that strong teams share 5 conditions for
success:
Your team is made of diverse people. A highly effective team is made
up of people from different economic backgrounds, race, ethnicity,
political ideology, skills and opinions. When there is diversity amongst
your team members it will inspire robust conversation during
decision-making, pushing your team to better thought-out outcomes.
A good team will have a diversity of identities, experiences and
opinions, ensuring that everyone is bringing the most possible to the
table.
Your shared purpose is clear and it points you in an engaging
direction. The work you have to do is readily understood, it’s
challenging, it matters to your constituency and you know why it
matters. Team members should be able to articulate for others the
"purpose" of your team. This is a brief statement that includes who
the team is, what they do together and how they plan to do it.
Your team is stable, with clear boundaries. You can name the people
on it, and they meet regularly. It’s not a different, random group of
people every time. Highly effective teams have 4 - 8 members.
Membership of the team remains constant long enough that the team
learns to work together better and better; each member is fully
committed to be on the team and commits consistent time and effort
to it.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
Your team works interdependently. Everyone should have a roughly
equal share of the work based on the unique skills & resources they
bring to the team, understanding that each part is necessary to
adequately reach the ultimate goal. Thus, the success or failure of one
will have an effect on all. One way to encourage interdependence is
to have clear roles based on the work that the team needs to do to
succeed. Interdependent teamwork includes: making decisions
together, coordinating work together, serving as a consultative team,
and sharing information. Good teams will coordinate and help each other accomplish collective
goals. Good team members will communicate well when they need assistance. No one is
carrying out activity in a silo that is secretive to others.
Your team has explicit expectations. Your team sets clear
expectations, or ground rules, for how to govern yourselves in your
work together. How will you manage meetings, regularly
communicate, make decisions, and maintain commitments? And,
most importantly, how will you correct violations of your shared
groundrules so they remain real and help you work as a team?
Teams with explicit shared expectations of each other have a much
higher likelihood of achieving the results they are aiming for. Some team expectations are
operational such as “how often will we meet?” “How will we share and store documents?”
“Communicate with others outside the team?” Others address expectations for member
interaction with each other. Initial group groundrules guide your team in its early stages as
members learn how to work together as a team. They are set by the team, not one person, and
can be refined through regular group review of how well the team is doing.
Without being explicit about creating these ground rules, you will find that other habits will
form on their own, and they will most likely not be habits that are helpful to your team’s
effectiveness.
THREE CRITERIA TO MEASURE YOUR TEAM’S EFFECTIVENESS
1. ACTION: The action work of your team matches the goals you need to meet in order to
win on your campaign.
2. CAPACITY: The team is engaging others outside the team in action. The team’s capacity
is growing, as they work better together over time.
3. LEARNING: Teamwork supports individual growth and learning.
In short, the team is meeting the campaign’s interests by achieving goals, growing the
community of people and resources it will take to meet the goals, and meeting each
participant’s interests by giving them opportunities and support to learn and develop.
*Note: If your team isn’t meeting these criteria, return to the foundational blocks to reevaluate and refocus.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
TEAM BREAKOUT SESSION
BUILDING YOUR TEAM
GOALS
The purpose of this exercise is to help you:
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Develop your team purpose.
Identify the shared expectations or ground rules you will adhere to as a team.
Review leadership roles. Then discuss the roles relative to the talents of those in
your team.
Create a team chant and coordinate a regular meeting plan.
AGENDA
TOTAL TIME: 75MIN
1. Gather and review agenda. Choose a timekeeper for this session. Review your
shared interests from the last session on building relationships.
5 min
2. Develop your Shared Purpose.
25min
3. Decide on Shared Expectations or Ground Rules.
15 min
4. Review Team Roles. Brainstorm what responsibilities each would have in
20 min
preparation for your first or next event. Talk about how these roles might match
up with the talents of those in your team.
5. Create a team chant. Decide on a regular meeting time.
10 min
If extra time, discuss key learnings: What did you learn about how to structure
and run a good team? What worked? What didn’t?
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
WORKSHEET
DEVELOPING A TEAM PURPOSE
SHARED PURPOSE (25 minutes total)
1. Individual Work – Silently brainstorm and craft a sentence to clarify your
own thinking about your team’s purpose.
2. Team Work – Ask each person to read their sentence to the group and have the
group record and share words that resonated with them.
3. Individual Work – Use the highlighted key words and themes to craft a new
sentence that describes your team’s purpose.
4. Team Work – Read individual sentences aloud again. Select one sentence
(or combine) to articulate your team’s shared purpose.
5 min
10 min
5 min
5 min
A clear team purpose has three clear parts. We are organizing (whom?) to do (what?) by
(how?).
Part I: Individual Work (5 minutes)
 In the first column, write down whom your team serves: Who is your constituency?
What are the people like and what are their interests? What will engage them?
In the second column, based on the work you did on common interests and values in the
previous session; write down the goals that are unique to your team. Be specific to
what your team is trying to achieve.
In the third column, write down the kinds of activities that your team could engage in to
fulfill its purpose by serving this community? What is the unique work that your team
could do?
We are organizing ____________
(who - constituency)
to do___________________
(what –outcome)
by __________________________
(how - list the specific activities that
your team would undertake to achieve
your goal.)
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
After brainstorming answers to all three questions, take a few moments to write a sentence
that you think best describes your team’s purpose, your constituency, and your activities.
Example of a shared purpose sentence:
We are organizing high school and college students across Boston to launch a campaign for a
100% clean, safe, equitable energy economy in Boston by recruiting others, building
neighborhood and campus leadership teams, gathering petitions and organizing our campaign
kickoff.
Our team’s shared purpose is to
Part 2: Team Work (10 minutes)
As each person reads his or her sentence the facilitator notes the key words under the three
parts of your purpose statement: 1) We are organizing whom? 2) To do what? 3) By what
means? Note specific words that spark your curiosity, or that give you energy. When you are
done, your circle the words that seem to resonate most strongly with your team.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
Part 3: Individual Work (5 minutes)
In light of what you learned from the last 10 minutes, write a new sentence that you think can
articulate a shared purpose, using some of the key words and themes you heard from others
Our team’s shared purpose is to
Part 4: Team Work (5 minutes) We will read our sentences again and choose – or combine –
one that best articulates the shared sense of our team.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
WORKSHEET
DEVELOPING SHARED TEAM EXPECTATIONS
TEAM EXPECTATIONS/GROUNDRULES (15 minutes)
Review the sample team expectations or groundrules below. Add, subtract or modify to create
your own shared expectations for your team. Be sure to include expectations on each theme
below and how you will self-correct if the expectation is broken. (If you don’t self correct the
new behaviors will be not honoring your shared groundrules.)
*The list below is just a SAMPLE; feel free to come up with your own for your group.
Discussion and Decision-making: How we will discuss options and reach decisions as a team
to ensure vigorous input and debate?
Always Do
Engage in open, honest debate
Ask clarifying questions
Balance advocacy with inquiry
Debate until time is up and then take a
vote
Never Do
Engage in personal attacks
Fail to listen to what others say
Jump to conclusions
Meeting Management :How will we manage meetings to respect each other’s time?
Always Do
Start on time; stay on time
Be fully present throughout the meeting
Never Do
Come to meetings unprepared
Answer cell phones or do email
Accountability:How we will delegate responsibilities for actions and activities? How will we
follow through on commitments?
Always Do
Clarify understanding
Provide follow-up on action items
Ask for/offer support when there is a need
Weekly check-in
Never Do
Assume you have agreement
Assume tasks are getting done
Commit to a task that you know you
won’t do
How will you "self correct" if your shared groundrules are not followed?(Try something
fun, not just punitive.)
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
WORKSHEET
DEVELOPING TEAM ROLES
UNDERSTANDING TEAM ROLES (20 min.):
Review the sample team roles we suggest below. Thinking about your next action, discuss how the roles
would fit together to create an interdependent leadership team. What skills would someone need to fill
each role? Based on the discussion about the roles, ask each person to tell others what experience and
talents they have and what specifically they want to learn in more detail (30 seconds each). How might
these talents match up to particular roles? Are there any clear “fits”?
Role
Responsibilities
Team Coordinator
Coordinate the work of the
leadership team. Prepare for
meetings, give support and
coaching to the team.
Volunteer
Coordinator
Coordinate and manage your
team's volunteers (training,
deployment, and debriefing,
evaluating work of volunteers
with them).
Coordinate and track your
team’s effort to recruit
supporters to your action.
Recruitment
Coordinator
Allies Coordinator
Communications/
Messaging
Coordinator
Logistics
Coordinator
Data/Reporting
Coordinator
You would be good for
this role if you . . .
Interested Team
members & Related
Skills/Talents
Outreach to community
organizations and individuals to
build support for your action
and get their membership to
your event.
Coordinate all communication
about the event. Send e-mails
to listserves, create a Facebook
page and utilize all social media
and news media to spread the
message.
Lead the team in creating a
plan for team actions.
Coordinate logistics for team
actions. Help generate
resources necessary.
Coordinate and support your
team in accurately reporting
progress to goals and tracking
all contact information in an
organized database.
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
TEAM ROSTER
NAME
PHONE
EMAIL ADDRESS
When and how will you coordinate with each other on a regular (weekly, or daily) schedule?
DATE:_____________________________
TIME:_____________________________
PLACE:____________________________
TEAM NAME & TEAM CHANT (10 minutes)
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Videos:
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NOI Video Resource Center: Building Teams
Readings:
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Freeman, Jo. 1970. “The Tyranny of Structurelessness.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology. 1-8.
Exley, Zack. 2008. “The New Organizers, What’s Really Behind the Obama Ground Game,”
Huffington Post, October 8.Designing Effective Teams, Campaign Workshop Materials, 2009.

Ruth Wageman, et al, Senior Leadership Teams. Chapter 1, “The Fall of the Heroic CEO and the
Rise of the Leadership Team”, (1-26); Chapter 9, “What It Takes to Make Them Great”, (207218).

Deborah Ancona, HenrikBresman&KatrinKaeufer, “The Comparative Advantage of X-Teams,”
MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 43 No.3, Spring 2002 (pp. 33- 39).

Dr. M.L. King, Jr. A Testament of Hope, “The Drum Major Instinct,” (p.259-67).

Richard L. Moreland, “The Formation of Small Groups”, Group Processes, edited by Kendrick, C.
(1987), (pp.80-105).
Team Coordination Tools:
 Google Tools
o Google Calendars to coordinate schedules
o Google groups for email management
 Wiggio.com: Online platform to work in groups
 Groupme.com: Group texting program
 Basecamphq.com: Project management
 Nationalfield.org: Soft reporting tool
Originally adapted from the work of Marshall Ganz, Harvard University. Modified by the New Organizing Institute.