Moving past dysfunction to function is one thing. But to move from a functional team to a team of distinction is another. The Team Diagnostic is a great place to start in either scenario. It gives the leadership of a team key insights into how to raise the team’s results. By looking into the level of collaboration, coordination, and commitment, you can understand what levers to pull to move the team to the next level.
Our clients leverage a Team Diagnostic when:
* Launching a new high-stakes initiative that will require high levels of commitment across the lines of the matrix
* Changing the sales or business strategy, which will require the team to be re-aligned and refocus to create results
* A key team needs to be innovating or initiating new ideas and is not – and the leadership wants to understand why so that they can change the team’s performance
* There is a negative climate in response to organizational changes that the team needs to overcome to succeed
* Lower results than needed, often accompanied by low morale, and what the leadership has tried to do has not worked
* As an annual process to keep the team improving year over year as the business challenges are changing
When faced with a stumbling block to results in a team, often executives begin by identifying individuals who need help, coaching them, and/or replacing them.
This approach is only 25% of the solution to improved team results. Even with the right people, they are certain elements of all teams that need to be in place for it to soar to new heights. These include:
1. Alignment of mission and priorities
2. Motivational levels of employees, including excitement about the direction of the team, job fit, and stress levels
3. Mechanisms to move the team forward, and removing system, policy, and personality barriers to progress
4. Correct staffing levels
5. Training to succeed
6. Climate of innovation – how free do people feel to take risks, as well as a proper balance between using what works and experimentation of new approaches
7. Ability to handling disagreements directly and effectively
8. Having a strong, supportive community where team members trust and feel trusted, support each other’s success, and feel the same pride of a job well done, whether they did it or a teammate did
9. An effective leader
10. Effective meetings and team communication
The Swing Analysis provides an analysis of all of these areas. Using our proprietary set of questions that we developed based on the research on team effectiveness and our 20+ years of experience leading and helping teams succeed, we take the time to understand the business climate, business goals, and each individual’s point of view. We then create a detailed Benchmark report for your team which we discuss with the leadership and the team to create a go-forward plan.
Leaders regularly tell us that the Team Diagnostic “is the most helpful feedback I have ever received on a team.” Why? Because it gives them raw, honest input and insight into their leadership approach and what needs to be tweaked to create a team of distinction. A team that can think for itself without the leader prodding and pushing them. A team that is focused on the same priorities where each member comes to work motivated to accomplish their goals. And that is what leaders want, isn’t it?
