Diagnosis and Assessment

It’s impossible to see yourself accurately in a mirror. Self-assessment comes with an inherent bias. While most strength and personality tools are self-sorts, the best information comes from outside validation. Those who know you best usually have an angle you haven’t considered.

Ask three simple questions and then choose a course of action:

1. Where is our team in its lifecycle?
2. Why are we in this stage?
3. What should we do to move our team forward?

All teams travel through predictable cycles of investment, trust, innovation, and change. Knowing where you are validates the emotional reaction to current challenges. Understanding why the team is experiencing any obstacle is the key to getting unstuck. A diagnosis ignites an action plan. Consider this simple model:

Benchmarks provide a snapshot of momentary excellence. Eventually, the measurement will be surpassed as teams strive for continuous improvement. An assessment reveals the wellness of the current state and a diagnosis of where attention would be most fruitful. Choose whatever scale you wish – unhealthy to healthy, unproductive to productive, disengaged to engaged, stagnant to growing, resistant to adaptable – and measure your team. On a continuum from “1” to “5,” with five being desirable, how does your team rank in the following metrics?

Before inspiring your team with tomorrow’s vision, perform a quick assessment. After all, an expensive strategic planning exercise wastes time and talent when the health of the team can’t support the action plan. Before you look too far ahead, measure ten simple areas of team effectiveness.

This is Sports Psychology 101, folks. The Chicago Bears are stocked with the finest talent at key positions and the highest paid player in the league at quarterback. Their global search for the perfect general manager and head coach resulted in a resounding chorus of Kumbaya. Media reporters who dare to challenge the mediocrity of on-the-field performance are condescendingly informed that everything is fine. Practices are focused. Game plans are studied. Locker room morale is high. The team is prepared. So why do they wet the bed at game time?

Whether assisting with financial, legal, or healthcare concerns, professional service firms tend to look the same from the outside. You hire a specialist who represents an organization you trust. You place delicate matters in his or her hands and hope for a better future. Behind the scenes, your trusted representative is powered by an anonymous team of talented partners who manage the operations. Who are these essential teammates and how do we measure their performance?

Take a look back through your work history and evaluate the various teams you’ve joined. Everyone has experienced at least one of the following situations:

“We just knocked it out of the park! How do we elevate our team to the next level?”
“Wow! Everything is changing! Can we slow down for a while and get our bearings?”
“We really under-performed this year but it’s hard to know what to fix to make this better.”
“This is the most dysfunctional group I’ve ever seen. This is toxic!”

Three years was enough. The pain had simply become unbearable. The symptoms could no longer be ignored. It was time to get a proper diagnosis and consider treatment options. Ever since the economy bottomed out, the team had been spiraling toward its demise. Organizational morale was at an all-time low. Top talent was jumping ship. Yet, their competitors had already recovered. Perhaps it wasn’t the economy…

What if any team could take a snapshot of their health and effectiveness at any time? Consider a world where everyone took responsibility for their individual contribution to the team’s collective goals. Imagine the impact of such performance accountability on a team’s growth and development.

Linking team effectiveness metrics to business objectives can be tricky. One seems so subjective and the other so objective.  One is art while the other is science. One is quality and the other is quantity.

Welcome back to the Team Clock Institute’s monthly newsletter. Each month, Breakthrough Teams will invite readers to participate in an Ask/Apply/Act model:

Ask: this month’s team challenge

Apply: example story

Act: action steps for consideration

Welcome back to the Team Clock Institute’s monthly newsletter. Each month, Breakthrough Teams will invite readers to participate in an

Ask/Apply/Act model:

Ask: this month’s team challenge

Apply: example story

Act: action steps for consideration