F. The Team Contract Method™ Trademark Justification Summary (Uniqueness & Thought Leadership Basis) 1. What It Is The Team Contract Method™ is a proprietary team-alignment framework that provides a structured, replicable, and fully facilitated process for defining how a team agrees to work together. Unlike traditional “team charters,” this method is a codified system that integrates behavioral science, accountability structures, psychological safety principles, and leadership-coaching techniques. It is delivered through workshops, facilitator toolkits, printed/digital workbooks, and assessments. 2. What Makes It Distinctive & Trademark-Eligible A. A Codified, Proprietary Process Most teams create informal norms or project-based charters. The Team Contract Method™ is differentiated because it is: Structured into a step-by-step facilitation method (diagnose → align → codify → review → renew). Designed to create lasting behavioral agreements, not just project norms. Supported by proprietary worksheets, rubrics, templates, and diagnostic questions. This structure is original to your book, coaching methodology, and intellectual property. B. Integrates Multiple Disciplines Into One Unified System This method blends: Organizational psychology Coaching science Behavioral accountability models Team-performance research Psychological safety frameworks No mainstream team-development product integrates these into a single, repeatable branded method with supporting diagnostics and facilitation tools. C. Produces a Unique Output: The Team Performance Contract The outcome is more than a list of values or guidelines; it produces a formalized, co-created Team Contract that includes: Behavioral commitments Communication agreements Decision-rights Conflict norms Meeting expectations KPI alignment Review & renewal cadence This document becomes a strategic artifact, not a “soft” culture exercise. This output is a distinctive deliverable tied explicitly to the branded method—strengthening trademark claims. D. Proprietary Visuals & Tools The method includes distinctive components such as: The Team Contract Canvas™ The Alignment Rubric™ The Commitment Ladder™ Renewal cadence system Workshop exercises and facilitation flow These materials are consistently branded and uniquely associated with your intellectual property across your book, coaching programs, and workshops. 3. How It Functions as Your Thought Leadership The Team Contract Method™ is a signature element of The Efficient Frontier of Teaming and your broader leadership-coaching ecosystem. It functions as original thought leadership because: It reframes team alignment as an ongoing performance system, not a one-time meeting. It creates a shared language and operational structure that you originated. It is now embedded in the book, narrative case studies, workshop curricula, and all related coaching programs. You distribute it consistently as the central tool for teams seeking clarity, norms, and psychological safety. It is uniquely yours—conceptually, structurally, visually, and in execution. 4. Why the Trademark Should Be Upheld The Team Contract Method™ meets trademark standards because it is: Uniquely branded in your body of work and absent from competitors’ materials. Widely and consistently used in a commercial context—books, workshops, advisory team programs, coaching engagements, digital products. Non-generic and not a phrase that appears in the leadership or consulting marketplace connected to a defined methodology. Distinct in meaning, representing a very specific framework that only your organization teaches. Attached to proprietary artifacts, including trainings, diagnostics, templates, assessments, and visual frameworks. This combination satisfies the USPTO requirements for distinctiveness and commercial use.