All rights reserved. Copying or other use of this material without the authors permission is prohibited. Ground rules help a group by defining the actions which help the group work together, and ideally form a commitment by the group participants to working together as effectively as possible.
Ground rules are guidelines to encourage the use of effective processes and behaviors.
A simple ground rules exercise for the group, which takes only a few minutes, is to brainstorm up a list of behaviors and attitudes which enhance the effectiveness of meetings. A good framing question to set up the brainstorm is to ask the participants to list the actions which they have observed that in their judgment has been helpful to groups they have worked in. Write down the actions so all the participants can see and then have the group participants choose the ones they want to adopt. As a second step, do another brainstorm about attitudes which are helpful to groups. Again, list them and have the group choose the ones they want to adopt.