Just because someone has strong principles, they may not have scruples. And someone with scruples may not have principles. It happens more often than you think.
Case in point:
Marta is a senior ops manager for a Fortune 50 conglomerate. She believes the key to profitability is an unwavering focus on efficiency and shows no moral hesitation that her obsession with efficiency results in mass layoffs, regardless of the impact on employees’ lives.
Jack, a middle manager for a global IT services company, avoids firing an underperforming employee because he doesn’t want to feel responsible for the devastating impact the firing would have on the employee’s family. And yet, Jack lacks a clear principle about fairness to the rest of the team.
In these examples, Marta has principles but no scruples, and Jack has scruples but no principles.
What’s the real difference?
People often confuse principles and scruples, but in fact, they serve very different roles. Principles provide guidelines and structure, while scruples add a moral filter. Both can exist independently, and an imbalance between the two can lead to rigid, harmful decisions or indecisive, ineffective behaviors.
Ideally, the principles we create won’t cause harm or lead to unscrupulous behavior or actions. But they can, if we don’t think carefully enough about the implications. And there lies the rub: Many teams create principles without discussing the implications. The frequent result: Principles are either ignored, or they lead to unintended consequences that can erode trust.
Why principles need norms
Unless team members talk through the implications of principles and norms before adapting and codifying them, they walk away with very different ideas about what a given principle actually means.
Take this principle as an example: “Everyone comes to team meetings prepared to contribute their best ideas.” Sounds okay on the surface, but this might beg a number of questions, such as: What constitutes preparedness? Are people who live in far-off time zones really expected to be clear thinking when it’s close to midnight (or 4 AM) their time? Can people contribute their “best ideas” asynchronously, or must ides be presented at the team meeting? What if have no pre-existing ideas?
A principle alone does little to drive behavior. Each principle needs to be supported by norms (and often, standards) that make the desired behavior more explicit and easier to uphold. Norms describe how a principle will be made manifest.
What makes a useful principle?
Some “principles” are really nothing more than bland slogans which, by themselves, do nothing to direct or guide behavior. These are statements almost any organization can make. (Examples: Our customers come first. Employees are our greatest asset. We believe that diversity makes us stronger.)
To direct behavior in ways that strengthen team collaboration and communication, principles should:
- Be relatively few in number
- Written in the present tense
- Be specific enough to drive behavior. A good question to ask yourself might be: Would team members know how to behave based on this principle?
- Provide the “right fit” for an organization. It should not be possible for another organization to use another’s set of principles
- Remain relatively stable over time
- Written as a positive statement – e.g., Instead of “No one will be denied access to all relevant data,” try “All have easy access to relevant data.”
- Reflect one principle in each statement; avoid compound principles
- Be tested, validated and modified, from time to time
What makes a useful team norm?
A norm describes behavior or a practice that most team members will use most of the time to uphold a particular principle. In our example, a norm might specify the kind of preparation needed by whom and when, methods and tools for sharing ideas before, during or after the meeting, use of video, etc.
Without agreed-upon norms, team members are likely to have different ideas about how to interpret the principle, making it almost impossible to hold themselves, and each other, accountable.
For team norms to be meaningful, they should:
- Be clear and unambiguous
- Observable
- Take the form of a declarative sentence written in the present tense
- Apply to most people most of the time, avoid calling out exceptions
- Correlate to at least one team principle, or it may stand alone
Some teams may be tempted to jump right into establishing norms. But skipping the hard work of articulating principles that reflect their shared values and beliefs, teams lose the opportunity to build trust and gain alignment. And ultimately, this omission often leads to norms that seem nonsensical or unimportant, which are frequently violated without consequence.
Where are principles and norms most needed?
It depends. If it’s a new team or one that’s undergoing significant change (such as new leadership, a change in reporting structure, the start of a major project, an impending merger, a new round of funding, or a new work model), teams are likely to need explicit principles and norms in multiple areas.
If it’s an existing team that’s running into obstacles or exhibiting dysfunctional behavior on a consistent basis, there might be at least one or two aspects of teamwork and other areas where principles are needed most urgently.
Here are some of the most common examples where virtual and hybrid teams in particular need explicit principles most urgently:
- Team meetings – e.g., purpose, structure, attendance, timing
- Team communications – e.g., channels, tools, timing, objectives, format
- Work scheduling – e.g., days/hours, location, presence, time in office
- Status reporting – e.g., purpose, frequency, format, level of detail, timing
- Information flow – e.g., lateral, vertical, formal vs. informal, methods
- Reporting relationships and accountabilities
- Decision making – e.g., criteria, process, roles, rights, communications
- Issue escalation – e.g., how, who, timing, process?
Where to start?
- Ask team members what behaviors might be most responsible for getting in the way of effective communication and collaboration
- Explain why principles are important, providing a few relevant examples
- Gain agreement on two or three areas where principles are most needed
- Discuss what’s happening within the team that a principle might help address. Focus on patterns of behavior; avoid singling out individuals
- Draft a few sample principles. This works best in small groups. Then as a whole team, talk through the implications. What norms would be important to follow? What behavior will we need to do differently or change? How will we bring this principle to life? How will we hold each other accountable?
- Continue the same process for a handful of other priority areas, working in small groups and then sharing with the larger group later. Don’t try to tackle too many areas at once. This work deserves to take time and considerable thought. Start by rolling out just a few principles at first
- Periodically test and validate whether these principles are working as planned. If not, determine whether modifications are needed and why. Ask whether any implicit principles might have emerged that need to be made explicit
- Post the latest set of principles and norms where they can easily be found, which will be especially important as new members join
- You may also want to share your principles with teams you work with closely, especially if they may change how you communicate and collaborate with other groups
Creating shared principles is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard work, and it deserves to be, given how critical they are for the long-term success of any team. Because this work can be demanding, many team leaders either skip it or simply dictate what team principles and norms must be followed. Neither approach works well. If all team members are to be accountable for upholding shared principles and norms, everyone must be part of these discussions, which may take the form of asynchronous or synchronous conversations.
Jumpstart your team principles and norms – Here’s how!
Please join our special February 7 Insights Roundtable
This is two-hour working session on Friday, February 7 at 12 – 2 PM ET is designed for you and at least one other person from your organization to draft principles and norms that are most needed for your team and assess the implications for your organization. I’ll be providing a workbook when you register, as well as a link to a few minutes’ worth of prework to help us dive into the conversation.
Interested? Please complete this brief Google form, and feel free to share with your colleagues. Please register no later than January 29 to give us time to fine-tune a session that’s worthwhile for all participants.
Facilitated Principles Workshops
I’ve facilitated dozens of principles workshops for organizations that needed shared team principles and norms to strengthen collaboration and improve communication. I typically begin with the senior leadership team to help set the stage and then follow with other teams, sharing tools, templates and approaches along the way. These workshops range from two hours to two days, depending on the venue, number of teams, number of issues needing resolving and other factors. Please drop me an email to set up time to discuss the possibilities for your organization.
DYI – Templates for Easy Download
If you’d like to give your team a head start on creating draft principles, you can download this checklist for creating strong principles and meaningful team norms. You can also download this example I created, using team meetings as the key area where norms are most needed.
Links
Downloadable resources from Guided Insights
- Principles Guidelines and Worksheet – best completed with at least one other team member
- Team communications matrix for hybrid and virtual teams – template
My past Communiques
- Confronting Conflict with Courage in Remote Teams
- Want to Accelerate Your Remote Team’s Project? Create a Communications Ecosystem!
- How shared principles finally got a leadership team unstuck
- Galvanize global virtual teams with clear operating principles
- What? So What? Now What? – Today’s Workplace Trends and Why They Matter
