FOR NEWLY FORMED TEAMS
Form fast. Avoid the friction that slows teams down in month one.
Team Lift-Off is a single working session for new teams, new leaders, and project kick-offs. We help you build a team charter in the room, covering roles, decision rights, communication standards and conflict rules. You leave with the basics that most teams only get around to defining after they've already got in each other's way.
Download the session outline
A 30-minute call, no slides, no pitch. We'll talk through what's going on and whether Team Lift-Off fits
Does any of this sound familiar?
If a new team is forming, or an existing team has just been reshaped, one or two of these probably resonate.
People are being polite.
The early weeks feel smooth, but you can tell nobody has said what they actually think yet. The disagreements are coming, they're just not here yet.
Roles are sort of clear.
On paper, yes. In practice, there are overlaps and gaps that nobody has quite named. Somebody is doing too much. Somebody else is waiting to be asked.
Everyone assumes they know how things work.
No written agreements, no explicit norms. Which means you're running on six different unspoken contracts, and the first real decision will expose which ones clash.
You've inherited the team.
New leader, existing team, existing habits. You want to reset, but you don't want to land as "the person who changes everything in week one" without earning the right.
If a few of those landed, Team Lift-Off was built for this exact moment.
What we'll do together in the session
Team Lift-Off is a single working session, usually a full day, designed for teams in their first 90 days together. That includes brand-new teams, teams after a reorganisation, and project teams kicking off an intense piece of work.
The session is built around three jobs. First, we write a team charter together: mission, roles, decision rights, and the things that usually go unsaid until they cause trouble. Second, we agree on ways of working, including communication standards, meeting hygiene, and response-time expectations. Third, we agree on conflict rules and escalation paths, so when disagreement shows up (and it will) the team has somewhere to go with it.
What you'll walk out with
Three practical outputs your team can start using the next working day.
Output 1
A signed team charter.
Written by the team, owned by the team, short enough to read and repeat. Covers the mission, roles, and decision rights clearly enough that people can refer to it when something gets fuzzy.
Output 2
A ways-of-working agreement.
The practical stuff. How we meet, how we communicate, how we handle the inbox, how we give feedback, and what "quick response" actually means. Short, specific, and agreed in the room.
Output 3
A conflict and escalation protocol.
Simple rules for when things heat up. Who talks to whom, what gets raised, how we do direct feedback, and how we depersonalise disagreement. Not policy language. The kind of thing you'd actually use.
What the session actually covers
The agenda flexes around the team's context, but most sessions follow a version of the below.
We start by getting explicit about mission, outcomes, and the team's place in the wider organisation. This sounds obvious. It isn't. Most of the team conflict you'll see in month three starts with a mismatch in how people answered this question in month one.
Why this team exists and what good looks like.
We clarify roles in practice rather than in theory, and we use a light framework (RACI or similar) to agree who decides, who's consulted, and who's informed on the things that matter. Patrick Lencioni's work on team clarity is a useful reference here, particularly around the discipline of over-communicating who decides what.
Roles, decisions, and who gets to decide what.
Communication standards, meeting rhythm, feedback norms, conflict rules, and escalation paths. All the stuff that usually gets written after the first blow-up. We write it now, together.
How we work, and what we do when we disagree.
We bring the structure and the prompts. You bring the context of your team and your organisation. Between us, you leave with an operating agreement you didn't have yesterday.
Who Team Lift-Off is for
This session works best for teams of 6 to 15 people, with the leader in the room and the team either brand new or significantly reshaped in the last 60 days.
Who it's for
• Brand-new teams formed after restructure, growth, or new strategy
• Existing teams welcoming a new leader who wants to reset without steamrolling
• Project teams kicking off work that has to cross functions and timelines
• Leadership teams that have never actually agreed on how they'll work together
Probably not the right fit if…
— The team has been working together for two years and is genuinely fine. Team Tune Up is probably a better fit.
— The team is in active conflict. Rebuilding Trust is the starting point, not this.
— You want a team-building day in the traditional sense. We're not running laser tag.
We keep the pricing transparent because most people we work with need to justify the spend internally. If your situation doesn't fit one of these, we'll tell you and adapt.
Formats and investment
FORMAT
WHAT’S INCLUDED
INVESTMENT
Half-day session
3.5 hour working session, up to 12 participants, charter essentials only
From £1,485 + VAT
Full-day session
6 hour working session, up to 15 participants, full charter and ways of working
From £2,950 + VAT
Full-day plus follow-up
Full-day session and a 90-minute check-in at 60 or 90 days
From £4,250 + VAT
Bespoke multi-team
Designed around multiple teams or leadership levels, delivered over two to three days
From £6,000 + VAT
Prices exclude travel and materials where applicable. We'll agree on the scope in writing before anything is booked.
Future Proof Learning has supported leaders and teams across the public sector, third sector, and private sector SMEs. Most of the teams we work with are navigating something meaningful, and the patterns we see look remarkably similar in every sector we've worked with.
Our wider track record
Personal effectiveness and leadership development programmes for national bodies including Public Health Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
PUBLIC SECTOR
Team and leadership work with Scottish charities, often at executive and trustee level, including strategy and charter design for Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home.
THIRD SECTOR
Leadership and team development for SMEs across professional services, energy, and technology sectors, with a focus on owner-led and founder-stage businesses.
PRIVATE SECTOR
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Frequently asked questions
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Not at all. A lot of teams don't pause to do this properly until they notice they need to. If you're still in the first six months together, Team Lift-Off works well. If you're a year in and starting to see patterns, Team Tune Up might be the better starting point.
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Yes. The charter is an agreement between the people who'll be using it. If half the team isn't in the room, the agreement isn't really real. We'll work around scheduling, but we won't run this with partial attendance.
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Yes. Works best in person, but we design for the format rather than running an in-person session through a webcam.
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No. Onboarding is about the organisation. Team Lift-Off is about the team. They work well together but one doesn't substitute for the other.
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Three to four weeks is ideal. We tend to run a short pre-session conversation with the leader to calibrate the design.
We don't do hard sells. A discovery call is 30 minutes, no slides, no pressure. We'll talk through what's going on for your team, what you're hoping to move, and whether Change Compass is genuinely the right tool for the job. If it isn't, we'll tell you, and we'll usually suggest something else that fits better. That's probably a healthier way to start a relationship than a pitch deck.
Not sure if it's the right fit? Let's have a conversation.
Or email us directly at info@futureprooflearning.co.uk and we'll come back to you within one working day.
Download the session outline as a PDF