A free e-book to help teams work better together, solve problems, generate ideas, and make decisions.

1. me@JoaquinRoca.com Teamwork E-Book
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013
Joaquín RocaJR
Teamwork E-Book
 AEIOU – When building a team, everyone should know what their roles and responsibilities are. Without
that, you are doomed to chaos and conflict. Use the AEIOU framework to help gain clarity.
 Meeting Rules – As a team, you’re likely to have team meetings. Make sure you’re not wasting time by
creating norms around team meetings. These are some rules I’ve used with success in the past.
 Sample Agenda – Every meeting should have an agenda (see meeting rule #5). Instead of creating one from
scratch every time, create a template. Here’s one that works for me.
 POTENT Meetings – Use this resource as a way to guide how you work together as a team. The POTENT
meeting framework helps teams navigate group meetings.
 SOLVED – The SOLVED framework helps to ensure successful group process for ideation and decision
making in teams.

2. me@JoaquinRoca.com Teamwork E-Book
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013
Joaquín RocaJR
Structural AEIOUs ©
In order to ensure your organization structure is clear and can scale, make sure you’ve covered your AEIOUs:
 Accountability
o Make sure everyone knows what they are accountable for and the metrics you’ll be using to hold
them accountable.
o The person who is accountable for outcomes is authorized to guide the overall process and has
control over resources.
 Execution
o Make sure everyone knows who’ll actually do the work. Often this is not the person who’s
accountable, though it can be.
o A person with execution responsibilities is authorized to do the work. Ultimately they’re responsible
to the person who is accountable.
 Input
o Make sure everyone knows who will be providing input in order to give clarity, knowledge,
expertise, etc.
o A person with input responsibilities provides insight, but has no authority to dictate. They should be
available as a resource to those executing.
 Oversight
o Make sure it’s clear who has oversight. This can be a formal reporting relationship, or some other
system that provides checks and balances.
o Someone with oversight holds others accountable and, if necessary, overrides decisions. They’re
responsible for giving feedback and making sure work is done.
 Update
o Make sure the appropriate people are kept in the loop and know what’s going on whenever there are
dependencies or vested interests.
o Some people will expect to receive updates with regards to changes in scope or expected completion
dates. Make sure those updates happen.

3. me@JoaquinRoca.com Teamwork E-Book
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013
Joaquín RocaJR
Meeting Rules:
1. First, ask yourself if this meeting is necessary.
2. Second, ask yourself who really needs to be there.
3. Whenever possible, schedule meetings back to back.
4. No meetings on Friday.
5. All meetings have to have agendas. Here's a sample, though you can create one yourself if you like. It
doesn't have to be elaborate, but it does have to exist.
6. A meeting without an agenda is a meeting you don’t have to attend.
7. All meetings should have defined goals listed in the agenda.
8. Use a "parking lot" to record off topic ideas and get back to the goals (unless the thing that popped up is
more important. If it is, this is a new meeting and needs a new agenda).
9. Assign roles before the meeting (e.g., facilitator, scribe, timekeeper).
10. Make sure everyone knows what the outcomes of the meeting and decision points are expected to be
before the meeting.
11. Record time-bound action items and assign owners at the end of the meeting.
12. Normal meetings shouldn't be longer than 45 minutes (this doesn't mean they should last 45, it means they
shouldn't be LONGER than 45 minutes. Change the default meeting length in your calendar right now).
13. Don't use meeting time to share new information that can be shared in an email prior to the meeting.
14. Just because you CAN sit in on a meeting doesn’t mean you should.
15. If you’re invited to listen to a meeting, don’t participate unless expressly asked. You can give your input at
an appropriate time later.

4. me@JoaquinRoca.com Teamwork E-Book
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013
Joaquín RocaJR
Sample Agenda
Meeting Title
Date: 12/12/12
Time: 4:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: Conference Room
Parking Lot (Not for this meeting, to be reviewed later)
Attendees
Person 1, person 2, etc.
Roles
Scribe: person 1, timekeeper: person 2, facilitator: person 3
Goals
Inform the group about this
Discuss this
Decide on this
Decision points
We should answer this question (by authorized person with input from group)
We should answer this question (by consensus)
We should answer this question (by majority vote)
Agenda Items
 Open (state goals and decision points to be addressed)
 Check-in
 Last meeting review
 New business
 Action items
 Next meeting agenda items
 Check-out
Action Items
1. This will get done (by this group of people in this time frame)
2. This will get done (by this group of people in this time frame)
3. This will get done (by this group of people in this time frame)

5. me@JoaquinRoca.com Teamwork E-Book
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013
Joaquín RocaJR
POTENT Meetings©
Plan Invite the right people
Send a reminder before the meeting
Send the agenda around prior to the meeting
Allocate enough time to cover each topic
Open Set climate and check in
Review the agenda and visually display it
State meeting goals
Tailor a process Establish norms/ground rules
Remember BART:
Boundaries
Authority
Role
Task
Execute
(do the work)
Generate ideas
Make decisions
Solve problems
Create action items
Assign work
eNd
(closing)
Summarize meeting, decisions made, actions to be taken
Check out
Track
(follow-up)
Send minutes (highlight decisions and action items)
Check in regarding action items that are time-bound

6. me@JoaquinRoca.com Teamwork E-Book
917.476.6670 © JoaquinRoca.com 2013
Joaquín RocaJR
SOLVED: Group Problem Solving©
Set up the problem Make sure everyone knows the problem and the parameters you are
constrained by: you want people solving the same problem. Also,
make sure you are solving the problem, not a symptom.
Open it up to ideas Ideation without judgment: brainstorming and the nominal group
technique are great ways to do this. Search for ideas that are “out
there,” and look to combine ideas in order to create new solutions.
Listen After getting the ideas out, debate the merits: this is the time for
explanation and advocacy. Attempt to predict consequences as best
you can. Make sure everyone has the chance to be heard.
Vote Make a decision: this doesn't literally have to be a vote. It can be
decision by a formal authority, consensus, majority rule, etc.
Execute Act on the decision and execute as a team: make sure everyone
knows their roles and understands what authority they have.
Decide how
success will be
measured
Decide which metrics you will use to determine if the course of
action was a success: defining metrics up-front and using them to
follow up is key. These can be qualitative and quantitative; lagging
and leading.