In our team coaching efforts we have used the Team Self-Managing Canvas to grow teaminess.

Teaminess is not a dictionary word, yet 😉

Teaminess refers to a feeling of being one in effort, behavior, and communication toward achieving shared purposes.

For teams that are just starting or for seasoned groups that have lost their mojo, the Self-Managing Team Canvas is a practical guide that supports positive engagement with managers. Unlike working agreements alone which are internally facing, teaminess requires active management of forces outside of the team’s control.

The term self-managing teams originate from team researcher Richard Hackman and is defined as:

“The team is responsible for executing the tasks and monitoring and managing process and progress.”

It is in use by the Large Scale Scrum community, and you can learn about the profound implication that that Self-Managing teams have on the role of managers here.

And with the November 2020 Scrum Guide update the co-creators of Scrum have changed the description of the Scrum team to be Self-Managing over Self-Organizing because [..this change] “emphasizes a self-managing Scrum Team, choosing who, how, and what to work on.” All revision updates can be found here.

How do we use the Self-Managing Team Canvas?

The Self-managing Team canvas is developed through multiple iterations of working with teams in agile contexts. And as such, it is created via bottom-up tinkering and iterations to fit for applicability in real situations.

Team growth is a dynamic process that folds and unfolds on interaction with its environment. A team is influenced by and in return also influences its organization. This dynamic is continuous, and the alternative to team growth is stagnation or worse attrition. Therefore I recommend that your team revisits this canvas every two to three months so that your team continues to be mindful of changes in your environment.

This canvas will help you recognize where to channel your continuous improvement energy and grow your teaminess.

We strongly recommend that you use the elements of this canvas for generating dialogue with your team members, managers, and the organization. The conversations you have around the different sections in the canvas are more important.

Need help with growing predictable teams?

Our coaches can jumpstart or accelerate your team’s journey toward becoming a self-managing team. Find out How we coach Agile Teams.

Webinar Recording

You can listen to Dhaval Panchal’s recorded presentation on the topic to the New York, LeSS meetup group.