The Full Value Contract

A Full Value Contract can be used to gain buy-in from a group, as an accountability tool, as a way to assess group progress, and much more. It is a shared creation, developed in words that are understandable to all group members. It creates an emotionally and physically safe environment supported by all group members. All versions of the Full Value Contract ask the group:

1) To understand and/or create safe and respectful behavioral norms under which to operate
2) For a commitment to those norms by everyone in the group
3) To accept and share responsibility for the maintenance of those norms

The FVC is something that can be developed quickly or something that can evolve over time. It is a way to allow members of a team to talk openly to each other, to give and receive feed back in a positive way, and set standards for behavior in a group.
I have seen a number of ways to create the contract. One simple way is to apply a word (i.e. trust, communication, fun, etc.) to each finger. Then in the debrief of each activity, refer to each of the fingers to see how the group is doing with that.

A more complex way that I tried that was quite successful was to allow a dance team, using a large piece of newsprint to create a standard for how they wanted to be treated throughout their dance season. I gave them the idea behind the FVC and facilitated the process of creating the words they wanted to use, and then asked them to create a visual to represent that.

What came out was a beautiful drawing of their “path to success” with all of the words in different places along the road. I later found out that the team sent this drawing to a printer and it became the design for the team tee shirts for that season.

For those readers who have used a Full Value Contract, what were some successful (or unsuccessful) contracts that your groups have created?

*Image from www.advicenow.org.uk