Your team has agreed on some set of commitments for how they want to behave differently going forward. There's a lot of excitement and you all hope these actions are the solution you've been waiting for. But there's a big risk that the momentum slows and the team doesn't push through to embed these new norms.
The Team Habit takes commitments and sends a regular survey out to all team members that serves as both a reminder and an opportunity for feedback. The purpose is to help the team actually follow through on the commitments they've made.
A quick introduction to the Habit tool
Setting up a Team Habit
There are two methods to do it.
Method 1: After your team's Align discussion is complete
In your team's Discussion Space, click on the "Finish Discussion" tab
On the subsequent screen, click on 'Create Habits from Discussion Action Items'
Add in your team Habits. The action items from your discussion will be automatically imported to the Habit tool.
Once you're done entering your Habits, click on 'Add Colleagues'
Confirm that the names of all the colleagues you wish to check in on the Habit are selected. If not, use the 'Edit Peer's option to edit the list. To go to the next step, click on 'Configure Cadence'
Select the cadence you want the survey to be sent out in. Once set in, click on 'Review Habits'
Finally, review your Habit set up, and click on the 'Launch Habits' button to set it live
Method 2: Creating Team Habits from your team's dashboard
Click "Habits" on the left hand navigation and click "Team Habits"
From the "select a team" dropdown, make sure the appropriate team is selected.
Select Habits from the templates on the left hand side or write your own on the right hand side.
Once you're done entering your Habits, click on 'Add Colleagues'
Confirm that the names of all the colleagues you wish to check in on the Habit are selected. If not, use the 'Edit Peer's option to edit the list. To go to the next step, click on 'Configure Cadence'
Select the cadence you want the survey to be sent out in. Once set in, click on 'Review Habits'
Finally, review your Habit set up, and click on the 'Launch Habits' button to set it live
What the Habit survey looks like
At the cadence of your choosing, the team will check in on the Habit. They will receive an email with your Habit questions and the opportunity to respond to these Habits.
If you've created a "binary" Habit, the recipient will see a "disagree "and an "agree" button.
If you've created a "scale" Habit, the recipient will see a scale from "disagree" to "agree".
If you've created a "text" Habit, the recipient will see a text box in which they can enter their comments.
How to access the Habit report
As the weeks roll by and you collect your team responses, click on the 'View Results' button on your team Habit to view the report. Click here to learn more about editing a Team Habit.
Do a celebration dance of your team's great performance.
Sending reminders, pausing or deleting Habits
If you wish to remind your team to complete the Habit, go to your Team Habit and send a reminder using the menu on the top right corner of your Habit (the three dots). See the screenshot below:
The same menu can be used for pausing or deleting a Habit that has been set up.
Pro tips to create Habits
Make your Habit statements as objective and observable as possible. For example "We send meeting agendas ahead of time" as opposed to the less specific "Share meeting agendas".
Set no more than 3 - 5 Habits at any given time. If you succeed at fully adopting one swap in a new one.
Here's some more best practices on creating Habits, if you'd like to learn more!