A former CEO’s three-step diagnostic tool to boost team performance

It has often surprised and concerned me that the measurement and management of team performance is not pursued with the importance it deserves. Beyond the character of the CEO or team leader, there is nothing more important to executing strategic change initiatives than how the leadership team functions, and how teams across the organisation perform.

Following is a simple diagnostic tool that can help provide insight and tangible measurement of the performance of a team. This tool is a great way to focus on becoming a better team, team leader, or team member.

Step 1: Diagnose

Ask team members to individually score, on a scale of 0 to 10 (with 10 being the highest score and 0 the lowest score), their answer to the following question: With the resources we have available today, how is our team (or leadership group) performing relative to what is possible? The references to ‘resources we have available today’ are important because this exercise aims to form an assessment of existing potential, rather than potential that is subject to the availability of more money or human resources.

The scoring process is best done anonymously, especially if the leader of the team is present. I don’t care how receptive they are to feedback, people are never as frank as they should be in an open forum when their boss is present. Once each team member has submitted their score, they should be collated and the high score, low score and average score revealed.

The average matters most, but it’s good to know the range of answers. I have run this simple test in many forums and discovered that the average score for most teams or groups is between 5 and 6.5 out of 10. Most teams have some work to do to achieve their potential.

Any score above 7 (good) or 8 (excellent) indicates a very good team or group at work. Good organisations I have surveyed are often very self-critical, rating themselves around 6 to 7. Sadly, fewer than half the people I have surveyed have ever worked on a team that scored 8 or higher out of 10.

Step 2: Discuss

Ask each person on the team what they think is the one thing they would change in order to improve team performance for the better. The fascinating thing about this step is that 9 out of 10 things people suggest have nothing to do with the industry their organisation is in. The issues are generic to most organisations and relate to matters like how people work together, lack of prioritisation, bad resource allocation, or poor behaviours and culture.

These are all in the control of the group to fix without much excuse, if the team leader is supportive.

Step 3: Act

Once each person is heard, the group should discuss and agree (or vote if needed) on the one thing the team is committed to improving. Identify a leader and supporters of that change process and follow up at the next team meeting to check on progress. The benefit of this exercise is that it gets the teams focused on and regularly discussing opportunities to improve performance. When measuring team performance, keep the process of diagnosis as simple as possible and pick just one or two of the lowest-scoring areas for improvement (no more). Then get serious about fixing the most pressing problem.

For boards and senior management, it’s important to remember that turning team performance measurement into metrics, such as those generated by a regular team diagnostic, is a very useful way to monitor and gain insight into an important leading indicator of success and failure: the quality of leadership and teamwork in the organisation.

Holding regular and thorough performance reviews underpins the ability to adapt and learn from experience, and to raise the quality of performance at an organisation, team and individual level. The better the process, the faster a change journey and team will navigate towards the desired destination.

If you want your change program to succeed and your team to achieve its potential, make sure your organisation or team has the right scorecard and meetings, and the necessary focus on performance at business, manager, individual and team level.

This is an edited extract from Through Shifts and Shocks: Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change (Wiley, $34.99) by Steve Vamos.

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