Team type results

Team membership

One team

Working in one team enables us to focus on our role and the goals of that one team alone. It’s important to maintain a culture of continuous renewal in the team.

Multiple teams

Many of us work in more than one team these days. This is called multi team membership. In larger organisations we are on average members of between 3 and 4 teams. Multiple team membership poses some challenges. For example a lack of control over team members' time. The need to coordinate both within and across teams. Higher levels of stress among team members with multi-tasking. However, we can rise to the challenge. Knowing we have small fractions of each other's time we need to search for the habits and routines that make work more efficient and effective.

Multiple teams

Many of us work in more than one team these days. This is called multi team membership. In larger organisations we are on average members of between 3 and 4 teams. Multiple team membership poses some challenges. For example a lack of control over team members' time. The need to coordinate both within and across teams. Higher levels of stress among team members with multi-tasking. However, we can rise to the challenge. Knowing we have small fractions of each other's time we need to search for the habits and routines that make work more efficient and effective.

Multiple teams

Many of us work in more than one team these days. This is called multi team membership. In larger organisations we are on average members of between 3 and 4 teams. Multiple team membership poses some challenges. For example a lack of control over team members' time. The need to coordinate both within and across teams. Higher levels of stress among team members with multi-tasking. However, we can rise to the challenge. Knowing we have small fractions of each other's time we need to search for the habits and routines that make work more efficient and effective.

Multiple teams

Many of us work in more than one team these days. This is called multi team membership. In larger organisations we are on average members of between 3 and 4 teams. Multiple team membership poses some challenges. For example a lack of control over team members' time. The need to coordinate both within and across teams. Higher levels of stress among team members with multi-tasking. However, we can rise to the challenge. Knowing we have small fractions of each other's time we need to search for the habits and routines that make work more efficient and effective.

Multiple teams

Many of us work in more than one team these days. This is called multi team membership. In larger organisations we are on average members of between 3 and 4 teams. Multiple team membership poses some challenges. For example a lack of control over team members' time. The need to coordinate both within and across teams. Higher levels of stress among team members with multi-tasking. However, we can rise to the challenge. Knowing we have small fractions of each other's time we need to search for the habits and routines that make work more efficient and effective.

Team type

Leadership team

Satya Nandella, the CEO at Microsoft, describes the mission of his leadership to develop “clarity, alignment and intensity for the business”. It’s key to get a top team aligned with a clear direction, a north star. If the top team isn’t aligned the rest of the business will struggle. The top team also plays a crucial role in modelling (or not) team behaviours to the rest of the business.

Functional team (sometimes called an "intact team")

Functional teams are often enduring - staying together for the long term. Teams can develop bad habits and routines that need to be rethought. Relationships and team processes need to stay fresh.

Cross-functional & project teams

An HBR article recently stated that 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional. Teams are hurt by unclear governance, by a lack of accountability, by goals that lack specificity, and by organizations’ failure to prioritize the success of cross-functional projects. It’s critical to invest in the setup of the team to address these problems.

Learning team

Learning teams commit time to learn. It’s key to have a psychologically safe environment - where it is safe to share and to fail without fear of humiliation or punishment. Learning teams also need to embed what they’ve learned. This takes time as new habits can take anywhere from one to eight months to form.

Team size

Small team of between 3-7

This is often described as the ‘sweet spot” for a team size. Jeff Bezos famously advocates the two pizza rule. Once you have more people that two pizzas can feed, it's hard to get things done.

Mid-sized team of between 8-12

Larger team means more complexity in relationships to manage. This image shows how complexity scales. In larger teams, you may well need to break into sub teams sometimes to get things done.

Large team of over 12

Above 12 It’s unlikely that you will operate as a true team. The complexity is just too high. These larger groups can be useful for sharing information but get work done you will certainly need to break up into smaller team units.

Unknown

If you are not sure how many members are in your team - it’s unlikely to act as a true team.

Performance gap

You’ve indicated a performance gap of 0.

This gap represents the difference between how you are performing now and how you need to perform.

Marshall Goldsmith, a world famous coach, found in his research that the “average” team member believed that his or her team was currently functioning at a 5.8 level of effectiveness but needed to be at an 8.7. So anything over 3 can be considered a large performance gap. How does your score compare?

Motivation for change

You’ve indicated the motivation to improve is 0 out of 10.

Before beginning a team-building process, it is important to determine whether the team feels that team building is both important and needed.

Some people feel there is little reason to work interactively as a team. Other groups may believe that team-work is important, but feel that the team is already functioning smoothly and that a team-building activity would be a waste of time. If the team isn't committed to make improvements they are unlikely to happen. Developing a mindset for growth is a key start point for team development.

Actions and recommended next steps based on gaps

Not motivated

Highly motivated

Small performance gap

3. Shrug off indifference

1. Incremental improvement

Large performance gap

4. Create a burning platform

2. Reset required

In the chart above we outline where you believe the team sits in a matrix of both the performance gap and the motivation to improve. The right course of action might depend on both.

1. Incremental improvement.
If there is a small performance gap and high motivation to improve it’s worth focusing on developing the habits and routines that will lead to incremental improvements. These might include improving the quality of one to ones and regular retrospectives.

2. Team Reset.
‍ If you have a large gap but there’s an appetite to address it, then it's best to start with a reset of the team. Perhaps use a team health-check to understand in more depth where the opportunities for improvement are. The key is to get clear on where to focus improvements.

3. Shrug off indifference.
The most dangerous of all, here’s where it’s easiest to do nothing. Force the team into box 1 or 4. Find the motivation for incremental improvements or recognise there’s a larger performance gap than you first thought.

4. Create a burning platform.
If there’s a low motivation to improve but it seems like there’s a large gap to top performance - you need to think about the stimulus that will lead to action. How can you create the burning platform where people take this seriously. You may consider some outside stimulus such as a coach to increase the motivation.

Collaboration needs of your team

Analogies between teams at work and in sport can be overdone. But when we consider the nature of collaboration there are some useful comparisons. Two important parameters shape the nature of the team.

First, how independent or interdependent is the team. In some teams, work is more individual. Everyone gets on with their own work. This is fine if that’s the nature of the work, there’s no need to collaborate for the sake of it. It actually can reduce the effectiveness of the team. On the other hand teams that need to collaborate a lot are sometimes said to be operating as true teams. In these cases understanding how to create shared goals is critical.

Second, how similar are the skills sets? Is there a common set of technical skills within the team? Or are we each reliant on each other for bringing distinctive technical skills to bear. Working with people of different backgrounds can increase the opportunities and challenges of collaboration.

This is where you self-scored:

Independent

Inter-dependent

Different skills

Create a shared mission and transfer learnings across disciplines

Like an Olympic or Paralympic squad

Critical to get coordination processes right and integrate different strengths

Like a rugby team or a basketball team

Similar skills

Develop team spirit and shaping learnings in the group

Like a Ryder Cup Golf team or a Davis Cup tennis team

Focus on consistent execution, pulling together not in competition

Like a rowing eight or sailing crew

Team Location

Location now: Single site Multi site Hybrid remote Fully remote
Likely location in a Year: Single site Multi site Hybrid remote Fully Remote

Your team will be transitioning in the next 12 months. A transition period represents an opportunity to review how you work and make improvements. It’s good to have a clear plan to deal with the challenges and opportunities from your new working arrangements. Make sure you discuss the implications for your new set up and how you can best stay connected.

Now

Single site

Single sites offer face to face contact. This can be an advantage for work that benefits from face to face interactions such as innovation workshops. The challenge is that it can reduce the talent pool to those that live nearby. It can also reduce flexible work options.

Multi site

Multi site working can enable you to have a presence in different markets and be close to suppliers, customers and markets. The main challenge is that subcultures form and it’s important to create mechanisms in the team for cross site collaboration.

Hybrid remote

The advantage of hybrid is the flexibility to meet different needs. The challenge is when an ”in group” is formed in the office and those working remotely feel isolated. It’s important to develop working practices to reduce this. One example is asking everyone to join meetings through a video link. Another is having good policies to document meetings and discussions so they are clear and transparent.

Remote

Offers access a wide talent pool and accommodates those that like to work from anywhere. The key challenge is the absence of face to face collaboration. Remote teams find ways to address this by occasional meet ups and investing in collaboration tools.

Future

Single site

Single sites offer face to face contact. For some work this can be an advantage. It can reduce the talent pool to people that live nearby and reduce flexible work options.

Multi site

Multi site working can enable you to have a presence in different markets and be close to suppliers, customers and markets. The main challenge is that subcultures form and it’s important to create mechanisms in the team for cross site collaboration.

Hybrid remote

This offers flexibility to meet individual’s needs. The challenge is if there is an “in group” formed in the office, those working remotely can feel isolated. The challenge is to create a level playing field. For example if one remote everyone remote video conferences. Policies on written transparent documentation.

Remote

Offers access a wide talent pool and accommodates those that like to work from anywhere. The key challenge is the absence of face to face collaboration. Remote teams find ways to address this by occasional meet ups and investing in collaboration tools.

How long you expect the team to be together

Short projects (less than 6 months)

Short projects require fast teaming. There’s little time to spend getting to know each other. So you have to use the time wisely. It is still important to develop the time understanding of each other's strengths and build trust that teams need to thrive.

Long projects (6-18 months)

Longer projects provide an opportunity to invest in the team launch. Developing clear practices to launch the team and be clear on goals and roles and responsibilities.

In-tact teams (18 months +)

Some teams, called in-tact teams, continue indefinitely. The skill here is to keep the team fresh and reset from time to time. Reassess the purpose of the team, whether you have the right team composition and working practices.

Your organisation

The industry and organisation size influences the environment in which your team operates. How stable is the industry? What levels of innovation are required? What risk can you take as a team? How many other teams do you need to coordinate with?

In small organisations (up to 100)

In small organisations up to 100 there are quite often less formal team development processes. The role of the founders is key to the culture. There’s sometimes an emphasis on the team to drive its own development. There can be a marked difference between teams that take control of their own development and teams that don’t.

In small organisations (up to 100)

In small organisations up to 100 there are quite often less formal team development processes. The role of the founders is key to the culture. There’s sometimes an emphasis on the team to drive its own development. There can be a marked difference between teams that take control of their own development and teams that don’t.

In mid sized companies (100 - 999)

Robert Dunbar indicated that beyond 150 people it's hard to maintain informal relationships. Organizations therefore develop more formal people practices - a crucial stage in the establishment of the culture. For example, how does the organization develop values that guide behaviour beyond the founding team? Do teams share information or work in silos?

In larger organisations (over 1,000)

People practices, policies and large HR teams are often in place to offer opportunities for career expansion and development. The key challenge is how to provide autonomy to teams on the ground whilst maintaining alignment across the organisation in terms of the purpose, goals, values and behaviours.

Your role in the business

Team manager

It’s good to create a culture where anyone in the team can drive improvements in how the team operates. This encourages everyone to take collective responsibility for results. However, as the manager of the team it’s likely that people will often be looking to you to initiate improvements. What’s your next step as a leader to start a process of improvement?

Team member

Increasingly it’s recognised that the best team performance happens when everyone is able to suggest improvements to how the team operates. Are you keen to get the team more focussed on team development? What’s your best next step to make this happen? Do you need to get others onboard first? Perhaps ask the leader of your team to take this survey and then compare notes?

HR or People Operations

As a leader in HR or People Operations you’re uniquely placed to influence development conversations across the organisation. Increasingly this means creating a process that works, not just for central functions but for teams themselves. How can you give teams the responsibility but also the autonomy to have effective development conversations on a regular basis? What tools do you need to make development conversations a part of every day without feeling like yet another work stream for busy managers?

Executive

Leaders of business have the twin challenge of creating a high functioning team and supporting a team of teams model. The way a top team works sets the tone for the whole business. A team of teams model means there is a shared sense of purpose, shared values and teams are aligned on goals. But teams still have autonomy to make sense of their particular situation.

Your results

Team membership

Team type

Team size

Performance gap

Motivation for change

Actions and recommended next steps based on gaps

Collaboration needs of your team

Team Location

How long you expect the team to be together

Your organisation

Your role in the business

What's next?