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Team Assessment

Where to start looking

when you want to move forward

Here it is in a nutshell.

The major areas to look for in team assessment are as follows:

1) Openness of Conflict
2) Effective Leadership Styles
3) Trust
4) Self-Correction

Each factor is described below. Use the descriptions for an initial team assessment -- learn where your team performs and where they fall short.

Team Development Assessment

How high-performing is your team?

Although this is not a scientific evaluation of your team, it will give you an initial sense as to your potential as a team, and how far you need to develop! And team assessment should be ongoing.

1) Openness of conflict

Look at the difference between the following two conflict management statements "Oh, that's okay, let's not worry about it"

versus

" Hmmm, that did not work so well. We seem to be at odds with how to handle it. Let's evaluate our expectations over what we wanted to happen, and see how to prevent that in the future." The first approach might feel okay, but I call it "Kiss and Make-up". There is no real negotiation of how to re-set expectations.

2) Effective Leadership Styles

Does the team rely on the leader? When a major decision is at hand, do they look to him or her? What about a minor decision? Even more telling!

versus

Does the team jump in and take over when a decision is needed? What would you say was the level of initiation that the team takes? Does the team appreciate and leverage the natural leadership traits of the team members? Smart!

3) Trust

Here's a quick test. After a team meeting, is the "real" meeting taking place in the hallways and offices, after the actual meeting? Is there a hubbub among sub-sets of the team (aka cliques)? Why don't these comments come out during the team interactions?
(you know the answer) And as you know, this in turn affects communications, accountability, decision-making, and finally results.

WOW.

Oh yeah, it also depresses morale.

versus

Do team members feel comfortable articulating their weaknesses and concerns during a team meeting? Instead of defensiveness and negativity, do you hear admittance of vulnerabilities, and a effort to see the good of the team over the good of the individual. See the Trust Link for more on this complicated indicator.

4) Self-correction

I saved this for last because it is often overlooked. I present this indicator based on my personal experience. When a team is high-performing, this characteristic is palpable. So, here we go.
Does your team get caught up in an outdated goal plan because "it seemed like a good idea at the time?" Are they stuck in an quagmire of inefficient tasks? That may be somewhat over-dramatized ... so for this characteristic, let's just say they are not readily adaptable.

versus

Is that top-notch team of yours always looking at the present state, comparing it with the preferred state, and jumping on activities to make change happen? That's what I'm talkin' about! They are on the ball. I love it. By the way, this usually requires some key mechanisms in place. Sign up for my monthly tip if you want some ideas for this.

What Next

From here, map out the best and the worst of the team assessment. Some areas may be painful to admit. That is good. It indicates a recognition of present state. That pain will lead to growth.

This map of the good, the bad, and the ugly ties to specific training and growth needs, skills, techniques, strategies that teams can take to start seeing progress beyond today.

Tons of training options are out there. New on the scene is team coaching. Much like tailored consulting, team coaching drills down to your team needs immediately. You will want a training session or a team coaching that is specific to your team's needs.

I would be crazy not to offer you help here. :) It is, after all, what we do best here at Better-Leadership.com. Contact someone for help.

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