A Code of Conduct for a Senior Team

I recently finished my eighth book. It is called Row: Trust, Teams, and the Essentials of Leadership – A Primer for College Presidents and Their Senior Teams.

As part of my research, I asked a number of people who sit on senior teams to identify some of the attributes that make great senior teams.

I then created a series of appendices based on my research. Here is a Code of Conduct for a senior team.

Code of Conduct for the Senior Team

As a member of the senior team, I will…

1. Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a team
2. Show up on time and be prepared to engage
3. Actively participate in all decision making
4. Positively and vocally support all decisions made by the team
5. Invest myself in the success of the other team members
6. Listen more than I talk
7. Hold myself and the other members of the team accountable
8. Resolve conflict with other team members promptly
9. Respond as quickly as possible to all emails and phone calls from other team members
10. Remember that what is said in team meetings is confidential
11. Ask for help
12. Accept questions and input about my areas of responsibility
13. Give other team members the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion
14. Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics
15. Be a positive, supportive, and engaged member of this team, even when I am away from the team

Here’s a couple of questions: How well do the members of your team model these behaviors? How well do you model these behaviors?

Image by Jesus Solana