Engage Toolkit
Overview
At the Engage stage, we’re defining our shared purpose, values, strengths, and expectations, then agreeing to all of this in writing in a Team Charter. Though, the goal is to create a written and signed team charter, it’s not the written word that matters most, it’s the process we use to create it.
The process outlined in the toolkit below is meant as a collaborative exercise completed with all stakeholders present. It can be adapted to fit time constraints anywhere from two to four hours.
We recommend that participants complete this reading on the characteristics of white supremacy culture before coming together. These characteristics of “urgency,” “individualism,” and “either or thinking” can have a way of sneaking into our shared values and expectations if they are left unacknowledged.
After the team charter is complete it can be used as the foundation for any other official documents that need to be created, including memorandums of understanding or contracts.
Objectives
At the end of the Engage stage, stakeholders should have:
Team Charter
Memorandum of Understanding
Contract
Downloadable Resources
To begin, let’s establish the definition and differences of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a Team Charter, and a contract.
An MOU is a formal document that outlines the roles, responsibilities, and purpose. It is not a legally binding agreement; instead, it signals a serious commitment between two parties.
Conversely a contract is a legally binding agreement that is enforceable by law.
The team charter is the least formal of the documents, but is no less important. It is the foundational document that can be used to create the MOU and contract.
Within the Codesign Framework, the researcher acts as a central hub of agreement. While all three parties should create a team charter, the MOU is used to signal commitment between the researcher and the school district, while a contract is used to signal commitment between the researcher and the edtech company.
Team Charter
Download Team Charter Jamboard Template
To create a team charter, a facilitator, should first download the Team Charter Jamboard located here. The Jamboard is used as a way for everyone to collaborate, and brainstorm.
The facilitator is charged with leading the discussion, setting the time limit and agenda, as well as consolidating the information collected into one cohesive document at the end.
Purpose Statement
An effective purpose statement should be specific, concise, clear, and goal oriented. It should answer the questions: what brings us together and what is our goal? The purpose statement can be arranged in the following simple format.
The purpose of this partnership between (Stakeholders) is to (Outcome).
We choose to work collaboratively in this process in order to ( ).
Outcomes
When discussing the outcome of the partnership, urge participants to be specific and practical. If the partners for a research partnership are an edtech literacy tool and an elementary school, the outcome for this limited partnership may not be to improve literacy scores by X%. Though, this could be a long-term goal that the stakeholders might agree to at the end of the research process.
A good outcome for the school may be to gather enough information on the tool that allows them to make an informed decision about purchasing the tool. The outcome for the product developer may be to make iterations to their product based on user feedback.
Try to find a common purpose for all stakeholders. If that’s not possible or dilutes the meaning too much, it’s okay to add both outcomes to the purpose statement.
Our Why
In the second part of the purpose statement, ask participants to think broadly and ambitiously about why they’re working together. This section can encompass how you hope that this collaborative work will impact those people that you care about.
2. Members
Start by asking each team member to write their name and title on a post-it. Then prompt each team member to add their own skills or areas of expertise that may be helpful during the collaboration. Finally, have participants add skills and strengths of their colleagues.
3. Resources
The resources section includes assets that are currently available to the team as well as those assets that may be needed. Resources can be broadly split into two different groups: technological and social.
Technological
Participants should write down all the technologies they plan during the implementation of the study.
Researchers can include software used to store data or conduct surveys.
Educators can include their current tech stack, including their learning management systems and edtech tools that will be used in conjunction with the technology they’re studying.
Product developers can include the technology that’s interoperable with their technology.
Social
Social resources include the people or institutions, outside of the immediate team, that can be used as advisors throughout the study. This is done to expand the discrete networks of the stakeholders into one cohesive social network.
Researchers may want to include contacts of educators that have previously been through the Codesign process to answer peer to peer questions for current participants.
Educators can include professional organizations that they’re part of or other educators at their school that aren’t part of the study.
Product developers should include members of their organization that are less involved in the actual Codesign Product Research, that will be instrumental in implementation, onboarding, or development and iteration of the product.
4. Communication
This is where participants should define the cadence, expectations, and roles for communication during the process.
First, prompt the participants to interrogate the ways they currently communicate within their group in order to highlight the different communication norms that exist. This section should be led by a facilitator and include questions intended to incite conversation among participants.
How often does everyone in your organization meet? How often do the members of your specific team meet?
Who is included in the formal or informal conversations about the strategic direction of your organization or school?
If you had an idea for a new project or initiative at your organization or school and wanted to share this idea with a colleague, how would you go about communicating this information? What channels would you use (text, email, slack)? How soon would you expect a response?
If you had a problem of concern that you wanted to communicate to a superior, how would you go about communicating this information? What channels would you use (text, email, slack)? How soon would you expect a response?
Next, have the participants use the Jamboard to standardize the communications practices and expectations within this team. For each of these, have participants first state the non-negotiables, then write down their preferences.
Non-negotiables could include ways of communicating or transmitting information that are data-secure or the minimum number of check-ins required to complete the study with fidelity.
Cadence
How often do we meet?
Channels
What channels do we use for what type of communication?
Norms
What do we expect from communication?
This should include specific expectations for communication like:
Emails should be answered within 24 hours
Meeting leads should provide an agenda at least four hours in advance of the meeting.
Responsibility of taking meeting notes should be shared.
One person speaks at a time during meetings.
We should arrive five minutes early to virtual meetings,
Requests sent after 3 PM will not be viewed until the following day.
5. Norms & Values
Norms and values can be highly specific or more general; they can either be descriptive or aspirational. The norms and values that participants choose should be guided by the question: what do we expect of each other?
Start by asking participants to write out answers to that question, then after everyone has had a chance to contribute, you can group common ideas together and find words that concisely describe common themes.
If participants need help finding words that describe common ideas, throw out a few examples like: equity, interdependence, respect, innovation, failing forward, transparency, curiosity, empathy, and timeliness.
It’s also important to define terms that are simple descriptions of complex ideas. Words like timeliness, curiosity, and empathy will have five different definitions if you ask five different people. The facilitator can use the ideas from the answers that were grouped together to create a succinct definition of each term.
6. Accountability
To better manage projects and assign accountability and responsibility at every stage, the team can create a responsibility assignment matrix. One of the most common types is the RACI matrix, an acronym that stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed.
Responsible
This person or group that actually executes the task.
Accountable
This is the person or group that is answerable to the decisions or the results of those decisions.
Consulted
This is who needs to be consulted before a decision is made.
Informed
This is who needs to be consulted after a decision is made.
Completing the responsibility assignment matrix should start with mapping out all of the tasks and decisions. Participants should write down, in the Jamboard, all of the tasks for the research process. Each task should begin with a verb.
These tasks and decisions should be specific enough that they’re helpful. Instead of “attend meetings,” try “attend bi-weekly check-ins on research progress.” Conversely, when you are mapping out these processes, try not to be so granular that the task or decision is at risk to change. Try to record somewhere between 10-25 discrete tasks and decisions.
Here are a few common tasks associated with Codesign Research:
Conduct focus groups with teachers / students
Approve research timeline
Submit student data through secure portal weekly
Review results from the data analysis
Approve results from the data analysis
After all the tasks and decisions have been laid out, write down all the roles that should be represented in the matrix. This can include entire teams and individuals. If an individual is represented in the matrix, write out their role instead of their name.
Then, to complete the matrix, start by walking through each task and assigning accountability as a group. Keep in mind that only one accountable party should be assigned per task. Responsible, consulted, and informed can all have multiple assignments.
Post Engagement
After this session, the facilitator should take all the information gathered and adapt it to a team charter using the template provided below. After the facilitator has completed the team charter, they should send it to all parties to sign.
Download the Team Charter Template
Additionally, the information included in the team charter can be used as the basis for both the MOU and the contract. All parties should consult legal counsel when drafting and signing the Memorandums of Understanding and contracts.