By Gunhild Marie Roald, researcher at Engage, NTNU and Håvard Engen, senior adviser at Engage, NTNU.
Norms are ‘unspoken rules’ that guide people’s actions everywhere people interact – such as in a team. However, they are often taken for granted and thus not discussed – they operate like an ‘invisible hand’ (Sjøvold, 2022, p. 275), that guides behaviour subconsciously. The Norming Exercise aims to make the invisible visible by addressing this important aspect of team collaboration. The background for the exercise, the theory and research behind it, and the results from our own research on the experience of using the exercise in student teams can be found in Chapter 12 (Roald & Engen, 2026) in the book ‘Reframing Entrepreneurship Education: Teaching Change Agents in Different Disciplines’, which can be read for free online here.
The first video discusses the importance of norms in team collaboration and the second provides a walk-through of The Norming Exercise.
The Norming Exercise can be used by educators or team leaders in any context who wish to stimulate conversations about team norms to set the scene for good collaboration in the team. The instruction is explained in the task cards (that can be downloaded here), which are to be followed step by step by each team. Five sets of 28 statements (identical in each set) can be downloaded here. There are six sets (one for each team member) because they have different background colours to make it easier to distinguish between the sets and store them while not in use. The background template can be downloaded here.
The organizer/facilitator of the exercise must cut the statements in one paper note each to make them fit into the background template.
We recommend going through the exercise as explained in the video as the paper notes stimulate the tactile and visual senses, but we have also created a simpler version that requires less preparation on the part of the organizer/facilitator. Here, the instructions are written at the bottom of the document such that the team can lead themselves through the steps, one by one. This version can be downloaded here.
If you have any questions or feedback regarding the use of The Norming Exercise, do not hesitate to contact us via email: gunhild.m.roald@ntnu.no
Good luck!