Background
Launching teams with a compelling purpose and sound structure is essential for future team performance [1], and participatory team chartering workshops can accelerate an effective team launch [2,3]. Default charters, such as grant proposals and unit mission statements, often lack the specificity to guide observable tasks and coordinated norms, necessitating additional efforts to crystallize team goals. Our ongoing work at the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) focuses on addressing this need through Strategy Jams that utilize design thinking [4]. Strategy Jams are an innovative workshop model aiming to convert a team’s knowledge of audience needs into actionable purposes, principles, and projects. They uniquely integrate common workshop features (e.g., an external facilitator) and design thinking principles (e.g., empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test). Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving and innovating [5]. It encourages teams to involve everyone in iteratively designing solutions to meet stakeholder needs. We posit this approach can accelerate research team development and effectiveness [6].

Method
Building on last year’s work, we now report the outcomes of four Strategy Jam pilots—two more than previously reported—along with more longitudinal results. This ongoing mixed-method study triangulates qualitative insights from participant interviews with longitudinal quantitative data collected through the Team Diagnostic Survey [7]. This robust methodology allows us to capture a comprehensive view of the impact of our Strategy Jams over time.

Findings
Early evidence from the surveys suggests that Strategy Jams help teams clarify their purposes and aim for more consequential goals. Surprisingly, several teams expect these clarified, consequential purposes will nevertheless be rather easy to accomplish. Surveys also indicate that the Strategy Jams increase sound structure for teams, with both clearer norms and better-designed tasks. However, results are mixed whether gains in structure are sustained or drop off over time. In-depth interviews indicate that these Jams boost team alignment and rejuvenate commitment post-Jam. Interviewees attribute the Jam’s success to certain factors common to any facilitated workshop (e.g., dedicated time with colleagues, having an external facilitator) as well as some factors unique to design thinking (e.g., centering audience needs, iterative focusing). Contextual factors were also important, such as timing in the lifecycle of the team and organizational support and expectations.

Discussion
By continuing to explore these dynamics, we hope to establish a robust model for leveraging design thinking in team development, thereby offering a reliable approach to facilitating purposeful and structured collaborative research. Future research will parse the specific elements of design thinking that drive these outcomes. We aim to determine whether such outcomes are attributable solely to design thinking principles or if alternative workshop design strategies might achieve similar results. Understanding these nuances will be crucial in understanding how to design team chartering workshops and needed follow up that consistently catalyze team purpose and structure.