How good is your team? How would you rate its effectiveness? Its efficiency?
The secret to improving teams is to occasionally assess where they are at and then take action based on what you discover.
The following are characteristics of team effectiveness. Look over the list and see how well these statements apply to your team.
1. Clear purpose
People know why the team exists. Extra points if they think the purpose is at least a little cool.
2. Measurable objectives
Team success is clear because it can be measured.
3. Supports the organization’s purpose
The team is bigger than itself, tied into the greater organization.
4. Know how the team will be evaluated
Everyone can tell you how the team’s performance will be evaluated.
5. Understands customers’ expectations
Team members know who they serve and what they want.
6. Individuals that support the team understand the team’s expectations
The team lets others know what they need to succeed.
7. Members agree on the process for completing their work
The steps are clear, and people follow their processes.
8. Members each do their “fair share” of the work.
Nobody is consistently slacking off or taking advantage of others willingness to work hard.
9. Access to the resources they need
Whether it’s tools, training, information, authority or whatever they need to succeed. They have it.
10. Effectively makes decisions
The team has a decision-making process that keeps them moving forward.
11. Openly communicate with each other
Everyone feels informed and heard.
12. Communicates openly with interested external groups
The team knows their stakeholders and keeps them in the loop.
13. Effectively resolve conflicts
The team isn’t afraid of disagreement, because they know how to work through it.
14. Quickly address problems that are hurting the team
When a problem is noticed, someone points it out and the group takes it on.
15. Understand what is expected
Everyone knows what it means to be an effective team member because the expectations are clear.
16. Support one another
Team members have each other’s back.
17. Continuously monitors its performance
The team always knows where it stands.
18. Continuously improves its performance
The team is interested and works to get better.
19. Achieves (will achieve) its goals and objectives
The ultimate assessment comes back to goals. Do they meet them or not?
20. Members feel good about being a part of this team
People are glad to be a member and say they believe it’s a healthy, successful team.
How Did You Do?
If it seems that few of these characteristics describe your team, it’s time to take action. With the right help and the willingness to make a change, your team can do amazing things.
To help assess your team, we’ve created a process called the TeamCheck Assessment. It’s based on some of these 20 characteristics.
Take the TeamCheck Assessment
This is a free tool for you to use in order to organize your own opinions about how your team is doing. You simply rate your team on a list of team effectiveness characteristics. It will take about 5 minutes to complete.
We Can Help
If you are concerned by what’s happening on the team you lead, reach out. We can talk through the symptoms, discover the underlying causes, and make a plan for how to move forward to better team health.
