Last week, we talked about what a team playbook is and why every healthy team needs one.

This week, let’s talk about building the first few sections of your team playbook, starting with clarity.

Patrick Lencioni says healthy organizations are clear about who they are, what they do, and how they succeed, and repeat it constantly, making the message stick with everyone who hears it.

Your team playbook should start with these same statements.

Why the Team Exists
This is your team’s purpose (not the mission and not a list of tasks). To figure out what this is, ask:

1. Why does this team exist?
2. What problem would be felt if this team disappeared?
3. Who do we serve, and how do they benefit?

Good answers are short, and 1-2 sentences. If it turns into a paragraph, you might be explaining what you do instead of why you exist.

How the Team Behaves

This section defines your team’s values in action. Ask:

1. What behaviors do we expect from each other, even under pressure?
2. What is acceptable here that might not be elsewhere?
3. What is not acceptable, even if the results are good?

Use your answers to create 2-3 sentences about how your team behaves.

What the Team Does

This is where you list the main things the team does, but not job descriptions or roles. Ask:

1. What are the core responsibilities of this team?
2. What are our boundaries?
3. What are we accountable for delivering consistently?

This section is meant to clarify what your team does and reduce friction with other teams within your organization.

How the Team will Succeed

This section is all about success as a team. Ask:

1. How do we measure success?
2. What does winning look like?
3. What few metrics or outcomes matter most?

Healthy teams chase what will clearly make them successful, and this section tells people what that is.

As you reflect on these sections and questions, remember, you don’t need to get them perfect, you need to get them clear. Write them, share them, talk about them, and revise them with your team. The process alone will do a lot for your team.

Next week, we will look at creating the next section of your team playbook, focusing on your main goal, the defining objectives for it, and listing your team’s standard operating objectives.

PS: Microsoft SharePoint is a great place to create, store, share, and edit team playbooks. For more information on how to get started using SharePoint for team playbooks, reply to this email!

Perry Myers
​The Outlier Team​