Background

When I took the helm of our Global Experience Design Team we faced unprecedented challenges following a period of frequent change. To support Johnson Controls’ digital transformation our team moved into a newly forming department (Customer Success), welcomed new leadership, and gave up our shared service model so that we could better support to our growing digital business. What’s more, the team was still coping with the aftermath of significant attrition following the post-pandemic "great resignation." In order to bring calm to the chaos and establish a cohesive team identity, the team needed to collectively create a team charter.

Challenges Faced

• Frequent change and reorganization within the company

• Loss of team members due to post-pandemic "great resignation"

• Lack of clarity on team values, expectations, and roles

Approach

In order to be successful, our charter absolutely needed to be a team effort with input and buy-in from everyone. So, I led a remote workshop with the entire design team to facilitate shared discussions on the team's values, expectations of each other, roles in the organization, and opportunities. By involving the entire team in the process, we heard from tenured teammates about what made our past culture great and collected fresh perspectives from the newer members, which together reflected the new composition of our team. A team of volunteers was then chosen to distill the workshop output into a team charter, which was further refined and adopted by the larger team

The team charter served as a guiding principle for the team, articulating who we are and our role in the evolving business unit. It helped us communicate our scope and the value we could provide for new business partners. Additionally, the team charter became an invaluable tool for onboarding new teammates into the team's culture, enabling them to quickly understand the team's values and expectations. As a result, the team was able to establish a strong identity, navigate through the period of change, and effectively collaborate with new stakeholders in the organization.

Conclusion/Learnings

Just doing this exercise was a huge success on its own. We all came together, talked, and listened. It set a north star for the team and gave us materials that we could use to communicate our value to new, incoming leaders and new hires.

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