1. Bring the project team together and make sure to listen to and include every team member’s perspective.

2. Give your team a name. This can be the name of your project or organisation, a skill that defines your group members, or a cause that everyone stands for. Write your group name down on top of a  large piece of paper or on the worksheet.

3. Brainstorm the key themes and topics that the manifesto should address and write them below your group name. Do not spend time perfecting the themes and topics before you write them down - add any that come to mind!

Some examples: 

• Honest work culture

• High-quality results

• People-centered processes

• Gender equality
• Yes and ... - communication

4. Review all the ideas and make a selection of 5-10. Use a voting system if you need help deciding. Transform the selection of 5-10 ideas into a list of declarations (e.g. “We believe in a honest work culture”; “We strive for high-quality results”). Keep the declarations short, clear and engaging... If you miss any crucial themes or topics, add them to your manifesto.

5. Design your manifesto in a visually-attractive way. The style and colours should represent and be attractive to your team. Make sure it gets a prominent place, where you are reminded of it regularly.

Tip: You can create a manifesto at any moment during a project. It is especially important when a project is started or in moving to a next phase. If you see that a team is having problems in collaborating, you can use the feedback manifesto worksheet to establish how to communicate as a team.