A team charter template establishes the values, operating guidelines, decision-making processes, and behavioral agreements that govern how the project team will work together, creating the shared framework that enables high performance and effective collaboration throughout the project. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the team charter is a specific output of the Plan Resource Management process in the Resources Performance Domain of PMBOK 8. Early commitment to clear guidelines decreases misunderstandings and increases productivity, making the team charter one of the highest-leverage planning documents the project manager can create.

What is a Team Charter?

In PMBOK 8, the team charter is a document that establishes the values, agreements, and operating guidelines for the team. The team charter may include team values, communication guidelines, decision-making criteria and processes, conflict resolution processes, meeting guidelines, and team agreements. The team charter establishes clear expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members. Discussing areas such as codes of conduct, communication, decision-making, and meeting etiquette allows team members to discover values that are important to one another. The team charter works best when the team develops it — or at least has an opportunity to contribute to it. All project team members share responsibility for ensuring the rules documented in the team charter are followed. The team charter can be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure a continued understanding of the team ground rules and to orient and integrate new team members.

What's Included in This Team Charter Template?

• Team Values and Purpose - The shared values and behavioral principles that guide how the team works together, along with a statement of the team's shared purpose relative to the project objectives.
• Communication Guidelines - Agreed-upon norms for how team members communicate — preferred channels (email, messaging, meetings), expected response times, escalation paths, and the protocol for communicating absences or blockers.
• Decision-Making Criteria and Processes - The rules for how decisions are made within the team, including which decisions can be made by individual team members, which require team consensus, and which require project manager or sponsor approval.
• Meeting Guidelines - Standards for team meetings including required preparation, attendance expectations, facilitation norms, documentation of decisions, and the protocol for starting and ending on time.
• Conflict Resolution Process - The agreed-upon steps for addressing disagreements within the team, from direct resolution between parties to escalation to the project manager or sponsor if needed.
• Working Norms and Availability - Core working hours, flexibility guidelines, availability during sprints or critical periods, and norms around responsiveness outside normal working hours.
• Team Agreements and Review Process - Any other team-specific agreements important to the working environment, plus the process for reviewing and updating the charter as the team evolves and new members join.

How to Use This Team Charter Template (PMBOK 8)

1. Create the charter collaboratively during the Executing kickoff - The team charter is most effective when the team creates it together, not when it is handed down from the project manager. Reserve time in the project kickoff meeting for a facilitated team charter session.
2. Cover all sections in the initial session, even briefly - A team charter that addresses communication, decisions, meetings, and conflict resolution — even at a high level — is more effective than one that covers communication guidelines in depth but ignores conflict resolution.
3. Review and update the charter when the team composition changes - New team members should be oriented to the team charter and given an opportunity to contribute to any updates. A charter that reflects only the founding team is less meaningful to later joiners.
4. Use the charter to resolve behavioral conflicts - When team members disagree about expectations, the charter provides an objective reference. "We agreed in our team charter that..." is more effective than appealing to personal authority.
5. Revisit the charter at retrospectives - In adaptive projects, retrospectives are the natural venue for reviewing whether the team charter still reflects how the team wants to work. In predictive projects, schedule a charter review at each major phase transition.
6. Keep the charter visible and accessible - Post the team charter in the team's collaboration workspace so it is easy to reference. A charter that team members cannot easily find becomes ineffective within weeks of the kickoff meeting.

When to Create This Document (PMBOK 8)

The team charter is created as a specific output of the Plan Resource Management process, which is performed once or at predefined points in the project during the Planning Focus Area in PMBOK 8. Ideally, the initial team charter should be developed early in the Executing Focus Area — at or immediately after the project kickoff meeting — before the team begins substantive work together. Creating the charter before conflicts arise, rather than reactively after problems emerge, is one of the most important investments the project manager can make in team effectiveness.

Related Templates

• Resource Management Plan Template
• Project Communications Template
• Stakeholder Register Template
• Team Performance Assessments Template
• Issue Log Template

Complete Guide & Filled-In Example

Get the most out of this template with the two companion resources below:

• Team Charter in PMBOK 8 - Complete Guide - Understand the purpose, key elements, and best practices before filling in the template.
• Download the Filled-In Example - Project Phoenix - See exactly how this document was completed for a real $72K website launch project.