Start the New Year with a Team Canvas!

At the beginning of 2021, I used Team Canvas to reconnect with my teams. It is a wonderful framework that fosters discussion and allows you to reconnect and dive a little deeper with your team mates.

How can you use Team Canvas?

Team Canvas can be used to onboard new team mates, resetting the team’s purpose, mission and values, establishing team agreements as well as starting up a new team.

I used the canvas at the beginning of the year to help reset and realign my teams from the roller coaster of 2020. As a result, both teams were able to reconnect, reset and focus on the year ahead feeling aligned and emboldened to take on the work that is ahead of us in 2021.

While this would be an in-person meeting, we used ZOOM and Miro to fill out the canvas. In doing so, team mates have digital access to the canvas and can access it at any time. We also refer back to the digital copy often, in team norm conversations and retrospectives.

Download a copy of a the Team Canvas and read on how to use it with your team.

Some takeaways from my realignment meetings:

• Teams were able to hone in on a few common goals as well as individual goals for the year. We spoke in detail on how we can support each other in accomplishing these goals.

• Newer members were able to gain understanding of why we do what we do (teams’ way of working). We were able to address these norms and discuss whether or not an update is needed.

• When discussing core values, we’ve learned what is most important to the team. For example, the discussion of Quality and the difference of Done vs. Perfect. (this may be a perfect future post!)

• Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses to help improve productivity.

Are you going to experiment with the Team Canvas? I would love to hear how it goes! Please share in the comments!