Team Alignment Session
Create shared understanding, align expectations, clarify roles and priorities, and establish working agreements your team will actually follow.
Session
Team Alignment Session
Create shared understanding around roles, expectations, priorities, communication habits, friction points, and working agreements.
Facilitator guide
Set the context, then invite each participant to share their top priority before opening discussion.
Step 2 of 4 · 18 min left
Decisions & next steps
Overview
Create shared understanding around roles, expectations, priorities, communication habits, friction points, and working agreements.
Expected outcome: An alignment map, shared commitments, role clarity, communication agreements, and working agreements..
When to use it
- A new team forming
- After a reorganization
- Recurring friction or dropped handoffs
Who should attend
Manager, team members, team lead and an HR partner if needed.
Preparation checklist
- Collect examples of friction beforehand
- Prepare a role-clarity exercise
- Agree the session is about agreements, not blame
Example agenda outline
- 0:00–0:15
Shared purpose
What this team is here to do.
- 0:15–0:45
Expectation mapping
What each person expects and offers.
- 0:45–1:05
Role clarity
Map responsibilities and overlaps.
- 1:05–1:15
Break
- 1:15–1:40
Working agreements
Communication and decision habits.
- 1:40–2:00
Commitments
Agreements with owners and a check-in.
Facilitation tips
- Make agreements specific enough to follow
- Assign an owner to each agreement
- Schedule a check-in to see if agreements hold
Common risks
- Naming friction without resolving it
- Agreements too vague to follow
- No owner for each agreement
Expected outcome
An alignment map, shared commitments, role clarity, communication agreements and working agreements.
Use the Team Alignment Session structure for your next session
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