Tools Every Leader Needs to Help Their Team Work Better Together

Tools
Written By Paul Thallner

Have you ever led a team that was working toward an important goal? When I was in college, I had a leadership role in my fraternity, and it was the first time I had to make big decisions that affected everyone. It was tough because I didn't have all the tools I needed to do a great job.

Since then, I learned a lot about how to make teams work well. I tried different ways to figure out how to make teams successful. Some things didn't work, but a few tools really helped. I learned that a reliable and valid assessment could be a great starting point to understand a team’s motivations and if it was set up for success

Why Use a Team Assessment?

The world of work has evolved, and people are working in more matrixed organizations with less hierarchy. That means they’re interacting with more people in the organization, working on more teams, and collaborating informally more than ever. As organizations push more decision-making to the front lines, the organizations with the best teams will win. 

  1. People spend about 50% more time engaged in collaborative work than they did 5 years ago.

  2. Collaborative work takes up 80% of the average employee’s day.

  3. 93% percent of companies plan to reshape their organizational structure, with most intending to flatten their organizational chart, decentralize decision making, and extend authority and control to semi-autonomous teams.

  4. 31% of leaders report that most or all work within their organizations is done by cross-functional teams.

  5. People are on twice as many workplace teams as they were five years ago.

Unfortunately, there’s a cost to all this collaboration. Most workers cite poor team collaboration as a source of stress, disengagement, and ultimately a reason for leaving the organization. When you think a team is off-track, it’s time to assess your team to help them get refocused and productive.

Factors to Consider

When looking for an assessment to evaluate a team, it’s important to consider these factors:

  1. Your Objective and Purpose. Anytime you use an assessment, you need to know why. So, understand what you want to achieve with the assessment. Often, they’re used to identify strengths and weaknesses, ensure a diversity of skills and perspectives, or align capabilities to the work that needs to be done.

  2. What it Measures. Every assessment measures something. Be sure you understand what the assessment is measuring so you can provide good guidance based on the results. Consider assessments that measure individual team behaviors, conditions of team effectiveness, or 360 perceptions of the team’s performance. 

  3. How Valid & Reliable it Is. Look for assessments that have been tested for validity and reliability. Valid assessments should measure what they claim to measure, while reliable assessments should provide consistent results over time.

  4. How Actionable the Results Are. Opt for assessments that provide actionable insights and practical recommendations for improvement. The assessment should offer clear and concise suggestions for addressing identified areas of strength and areas needing development within the team.

  5. How Secure it Is. Ensure the assessments provide confidentiality. Confidentiality encourages honest responses, leading to more accurate results, and fosters an environment of psychological safety, which is essential for effective team assessment and development.

My Go-To Team Assessments:

With those factors in mind, are three tools that I have used and highly recommend:

Engaging Team 360

Engaging Team 360

Gives teams an external perspective of team performance and impact against a number of critical criteria.

This tool from Real World Group helps teams figure out how to work better together. Instead of just looking at each person, it looks at the whole team. This helps everyone understand how they can all work together to do their best. It even has a special version for the team leader to understand how to be a better boss.

What Does It Measure? The Engaging Team 360 invites team members and those interacting with the team to evaluate the team’s behaviors, attitude, process and competencies. This identifies gaps between the team’s perception of itself vs. the perception of others.  

When to Use It?  When you need to understand and highlight the impact a team is having on the organization or across stakeholder groups. 

Predictive Index Team Profile

Predictive Index Team Profile

Aggregates individual behavior profiles to create a team reference type.

The Predictive Index (P.I.) tool looks at each person in your team and builds a reference profile based on their behavioral drivers. Then it helps combines that data to determine the activities the team is best suited to perform, and which ones the team may struggle with.

What Does It Measure? The P.I. Team Profile aggregates individual behavior profiles to create one of nine team types. Knowing a team’s type is helpful in understanding why some team tasks or decisions might be easier or more difficult for the team. It also can foster greater inclusion when the team sees gaps that may keep it from effectively achieving its goals.

When to Use It? When you need to get a team thinking about individual and collective behaviors and how they can affect the team’s ability to deliver on a strategy

Team Diagnostic Survey

Team Diagnostic Survey

Focuses on measuring the core building blocks of team effectiveness

The Team Diagnostic Survey (or TDS) is a good tool for seeing how well your team measures up against the six conditions that predict team success. It helps you figure out where your team is doing great and where they can do better. With regular check-ups, you can see how your team is getting better over time.

What Does It Measure? The TDS measures factors that research shows predicts strong team performance. It provides insight on how well members work together, and their motivation and satisfaction level. It also provides insight into how well team members understand the team purpose, direction, and ways of working.

When to Use It? When you want to ensure a team is set up from success, or you need to re-set team expectations. 



College is a distant memory, and I’m glad I no longer have to guess at the causes of team dysfunction. It feels great to be able to help teams once we know what to work on.

Do You Have a Team That Needs Some Help?

High Peaks Group is certified to provide all three of the assessments listed here! If you would like to discuss weather a team assessment would be helpful for your organization, click the link below to book some time to talk.

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Paul Thallner
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