Anytime you begin a new working relationship with a team or a partner on a project it is very helpful to set aside time for a level set meeting. The purpose of such meetings is to share how each individual sees the goals of the work, how they like to work and engage with others, what communications practices should be part of the work and clarity about everyone’s stake in the work. When we enter a new working relationship, we may think we know the answers to many, if not all, of these concerns, but mostly we know what we think or believe about them and haven’t a clue how others see these. The work will go much better when all expectations have been shared and a common ground for the work developed.

To gain better understanding of our co-workers or co-leaders and of ourselves, a focused conversation that sets aside time to share information on these topics is an essential first step. And because there are likely to be differences in how these aspects of the work are understood and valued, it is also a time to decide how the differences can be resolved, balanced, managed or accepted.

The items below are the topics that might be included in such a meeting. The list is too long for a single session, but one good way to start building a good working relationship is to decide together which ones should be discussed and which ones delayed for later.

Like any meeting this discussion should be carried out in a safe, supportive environment which encourages the full participation of everyone and reduces hierarchy as much as possible.

Some of these differences may lead to some hard and challenging conversations, but it is better to surface as many of these early on before emotions have been triggered when a misunderstanding creates conflict. Once that happens the problems will be just that much more difficult to address.

The Level Set Agenda

Direction

This item is likely to have been set by someone or some entity outside of the team or work group. It may be tied to corporate or unit goals, a special assignment from a leader up the chain of command, or a request to respond to a new opportunity or perhaps a threat. The goal may be well defined as it has come down or somewhat amorphous, describing the issue, identifying responsibility and providing some resources for the work to be done. These are the particulars that will enable every team member to imagine the work, its value, its purpose, how it should be done and what their interests are in the undertaking. And there are likely to be as many interpretations of this new undertaking as there are team members in the room.

To get some shared clarity, the following questions should inform the agenda for this first part of the level set discussion:

• What are or should be the goals of this project?

• How do these serve the broader strategic direction or goals of the larger organization?

• If the membership of the team comes from across the organization, how do each of these units see and value this work?

• Once clear and shared broad goals have been established, then developing a sense of the initial steps or work plan should be developed.

Roles

These may also be somewhat predetermined much like direction. There is likely to be a team lead, perhaps a great variety of technical experts contributing to the work, and perhaps even individuals that represent other interests who may or may not have technical expertise. For the level set meeting it is essential to review all of these roles, regardless of how clear they may seem to be. The team lead needs to share how she sees her role in this particular undertaking. Those from technical interest need to share how their area sees and values the work of the team and how it fits into the broader strategic agenda that they represent. This transparency will also need to be shared by those who may not have a technical skill, but represent areas that will have special interests.

Some other key areas for discussion and clarity would include:

• How do resolve any apparent conflicts in roles as we begin?

• As the work goes forward and needs change, how do we recognize that need and involve the entire team in the process?

• If there is “role creep” as we do the work, how should it be brought up and what is a good way to address this?

Style

This is related to roles, but a little different. Work style refers to more of the behavioral quality that each individual prefers as they go about their work. This requires some level of self-knowledge and self-awareness on everyone’s part and the sharing of these preferences may not be as precise because of this. Nonetheless, getting these surfaced and shared can contribute to understanding of each other as the team does its work.

Perhaps the best way to open this discussion is to look at some of the tensions which typically drive individual preferences. One approach is to surface these and have each individual share their behavioral preferences, i.e. extroverted or introverted, big picture or details, task focused or relationship oriented. Some common style or work preference considerations can be pursued with questions such as:

• Are you more of a big picture person or more focused on details?

• Is your comfort level higher with active group engagement or does it lean more to solo work?

• Are you the type to push for resolution and decide today or are you usually more comfortable waiting for more information if there is no need to push?

• Are you more focused on the work itself and bringing analytical reason to address it or are you more human centric and values oriented?

• Is your style of communication more often terse and focused or explanatory and expansive?

• Do you think you value a more cooperative approach or the testing quality of competition?

Ways We Will Do the Work

Beyond goals, roles, and style there are a few key process considerations that are important. Three stand out as essential and often if teams can have a well defined and shared set of processes around these three, they will be able to resolve any other issues that may arise. These three are:

1. Communication

Individuals will undoubtedly have different preferences related to communication. Many of these are likely driven by many of the personality dimensions discussed in Style. It will be essential for the team to come to a common understanding of what the standards for communication are for this team and to make sure that everyone on the team can live with these, even if what is identified as standard, is not always to their individual preference. 

The first and biggest question is: How do we want to communicate? The matters to resolve here are: 

• Frequency: How often should we expect to hear from individuals or work groups with updates on their progress. A related issue within this context and Medium below is to parse out the differences between standard sharing and those matters that have some higher urgency. 

• Medium: While some of this communication will take place at team meetings, other communication will be carried out through a variety of mechanisms including messaging, Slack, email, or other platforms. In general, when should each of these be used? And are there different mediums for urgency?

• Feedback: An important and often forgotten form of communication for teams is the giving of feedback to each other. A discussion of its importance, value, free nature, expectation that it is shared, and the way to give and receive feedback will go a long way to keeping team members in sync with each other.

2. Conflict

Even with the clearest communication, conflicts will arise as the team does its work. The discussion here should move toward building a set of expectations for surfacing conflict and defining a process bringing it some form of acceptable resolution to all involved. The best way to approach conflict between individuals is for all sides to approach the situation as a problem solving issue that all concerned are invested in the solution.

• A body of such expectations will vary from group to group, but here are some principles that should be considered:

• It is the obligation of every individual to bring a perceived conflict to the attention of the group or individuals involved.

• This identification of the conflict should be as factual and non-judgemental as possible, avoiding any blame or fault finding.

• It should be approached with questions and curiosity.

• If the conflict is between two people, the person perceiving the conflict should raise the issue with the other person, seeking clarification and a solution.

• If the conflict cannot be resolved between the two individuals, they should agree on a third party to join the discussion and assist in resolving the impasse.

• Some conflicts merit the attention of the entire team or group and a simple mechanism for raising the issue with the team should be established.

Having the level set work include conflict in its purview will serve to normalize conflict as inevitable and generate a shared path for gaining resolution.

3. Decisions

Much of the work of any team will be characterized by decision making as they define ways to solve problems, use resources, make recommendations and many other collective efforts undertaken to achieve their goals. There are some principles for decision making that should inform the choices about each team's style. These include:

• Decisions should be pushed down into the team to the lowest level where they can be ably made, even to individuals.

• Individuals and groups that make the decisions within a larger team are obligated to involve others as needed and communicate decisions as widely as needed.

• When in question, over involvement or over communication is always a wise choice.

• If decisions cannot be reached in a consensus manner, how and when will they be elevated for resolution?

But these points are meant only as considerations, teams will need to review and develop their own processes for decisions.

Growth

One final consideration for the level set conversation is an exploration of the opportunities for individual professional growth that are potentially a part of every project. The things to surface in the level set are:

• Affirming a commitment to growth and development of all involved.

• Group identification of growth opportunities that are likely to emerge.

• A way of identifying new opportunities that were not initially considered.

• Each individual stating what they believe they are in need of for professional development.

• A process for assigning these opportunities to various individuals in a fair and equitable manner.

There are of course many other subject areas for this on-going discussion and each of those above could have many more considerations added. The point here is to:

1. get the conversation started,

2. recognize that people have different approaches to work and life,

3. normalize the process towards a resolution of how “we” will work,

4. expect on-going tension, but also a process for resolving it, and

5. build stronger relationships through shared understanding.

The time spent on a level set conversation will be repaid many times over through reducing miscommunication, improving understanding of goals and direction, building trust, dealing with issues in an open straightforward way, and building more commitment to the work and each other.

And, it is also good practice for when the occasion arises for a “re-set” conversation.