In 2018 my journey in Team Coaching included a certification as Advanced Practitioner in the Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS), that uses the Six Conditions for Team Effectiveness. The TDS is the only validated instrument that has been published in a peer review journal article. designed to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of teams. It was brought to my attention via the Team Coaching Zone podcast founded by Krister Lowe.
I find the Six Conditions for Team Effectiveness a simple model, practical to use and very effective.
The Research
The late Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman and their colleagues at Harvard and other universities based on their research about the major conditions that foster team effectiveness identified 6 Conditions that account for up to 80% of team effectiveness, 3 Key Task Processes that emerge from those conditions, and 3 measures of Team Effectiveness.
They studied teams in intelligence agencies, symphony and chamber orchestras, hospital patient care teams, management groups, flight deck crews and others. The research included:
- 120+ teams, 11 nations, wide range of industries „
- Rigorous empirical study, not anecdotal „
- Rich mix of quantitative and qualitative assessments of the teams „
- Interviewed and surveyed all members, observed teams to capture potential influences on their effectiveness − Design and structure of the teams − Characteristics of the members − Actions of the leader
Let's pick this model apart and build it back again.
6 Conditions
The first part of the diagram, the Six Conditions, represent the main features of a team’s design that can be influenced to shape its effectiveness. The Six Conditions are presented in chronological order. To build a great team, first come the Essentials (Real Team, Right People, Compelling Purpose). When the Essentials are in good shape, turn next to the quality of the Enablers (Sound Structure, Supportive Organizational Context, Team Coaching)
The Essentials
- 3 Essentials: Real Team, Right People, Compelling Direction
If the three main conditions are missing or weak, teams will inevitably struggle over time.
1. Real Team groups that are bounded, interdependent and stable. Bounded: Clear who is—and who is not—on the leadership team. Stable: Membership is kept intact for some period of time. Interdependent: Members share accountability for a common purpose.
2. Compelling Direction Ensure the ends specified are clear, challenging, and consequential. Clear: Can imagine what it would look like if we achieved it. Challenging: A stretch of capability to achieve it, but not impossible. Consequential: Important impact on the success of the organization and on the lives and work of others.
3. Right People All members must possess both task and teamwork skills.
The Enablers
- 3 Enablers: Sound Structure, Supportive Context, Team Coaching
4. Sound Structure -> Right size: Keep the team small, ideally in the single digits. Meaningful team tasks: The work members do together is vital and connected to the strategy. Norms of conduct: Members understand what must always be done, what must never be done (norms/ground rules/team charter/ operating guidelines/etc.)
5. Supportive Organizational Context the organization’s structures and systems enable rather than undermine teamwork. Information: What data the team needs—in a form they can use Education: Training and technical consultation to build expertise Material resources: The space, time, and “stuff” for working together on hard decisions
6. Available Expert Coaching This can come from someone inside or outside the team. This person or people should be available to intervene in the process in ways that promote the best use of collective resources in completing the work.
Key Task Processes
Key Task Processes mean the ways that members are working together result in the team using its full capabilities to do the work well and the team is growing in capability. Effort is working in ways that build shared commitment to the work and the team. Strategy means inventing uniquely suited approaches to the work. Knowledge and skill is using member capabilities well.
Team Effectiveness
- 3 Team Effectiveness Outcomes: Task Performance, Group Process, Member Satisfaction
The Criteria of Team Effectiveness mean that the team outcomes are excellent. Task Performance means the main clients or users of the team’s work are satisfied with the quality, quantity, and timeliness of the team’s work. Quality of Group Process means the group is becoming increasingly effective over time, not just for a one-time good performance. Member Satisfaction means that the team contributes to the learning, growth and satisfaction of its members. There are tradeoffs among these three outcomes in the short run (e.g., sometimes a team has to put task performance ahead of member learning), but great teams are able to make those tradeoffs and build positive outcomes on all three over time.
The general result of a Team Diagnostic Survey on a Team including the 6 Conditions, with a scale from 0 to 5 (red/negative to green/positive) can look like this:
The Team Diagnostic Survey has been relaunched in 2017, since then more than 400 coaches and internal team leaders have been certified in the instrument. The TDS has been used by thousands of teams and is being applied some of the biggest companies in the world in banking, energy and other sectors. It's an instrument and model that I use in my Team Coaching (article to be published soon) practice, which also includes workflow simulations for business Agility.
Resources:
Book - 2002 Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances, by J. Richard Hackman
Book - 2008 Wageman et al. Senior Leadership Teams: What it takes to make them great, Harvard Business School Press
Webinar August 2018 – Intro to Team Diagnostic Survey, 6 Conditions for Team Effectiveness
Website - Team Diagnostic Survey
Articles by André:
Uberisation and Digital Coaching
Ways of Being - Ontological Coaching
Interview with Stephen Covey, Author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Mentoring - Mentor Coaching for ICF credentials
F.A.S.T. Agility
Evoking Excellence in Professional Coaching
A Journey to Master Certified Coach
A Credentialing Experience with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)
Why Business and Executive Coaching?
Coaching Market Wizards
Solving Succession: How Executive Coaching helped one of Spain's Wealthiest Families
André Ribeiro is an executive coach and team coach. He mentors coaches and partners in coaching with organisations including family businesses, business schools and multinationals. He is Master Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation and Senior Practitioner by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. More @ ExtraCoaching.com
How to Build a Culture of Trust in Your Team
Apart from psychological safety, the culture of trust is an integral part of providing a healthy workplace atmosphere.
One of the most efficient ways to avoid relationship conflicts between coworkers is to develop a culture of transparency. This means that teammates acknowledge each other’s duties and have proper information about one another’s contribution towards the team goal.
Building a culture of trust in your team will help you make the coworkers more respectful of each other regardless of their skills, knowledge, or background.
Another significant benefit of trust is reduced risks of a possible clash between cultures that can arise plenty of issues at the workplace.
3 Ways to Foster Trust on Your Team
Now we will discuss three practical ways to build trust in your team and ensure that everyone’s contribution is appreciated.
Get to know each other on a personal level
Understanding personal details about your coworkers is a proven way to foster respect and trust in your team. Try to introduce interesting icebreakers before you start the team meeting.
Catch sight of your coworkers’ personal lives before you move on to business updates. That way, the team will remain engaged throughout the entire meeting and even afterward.
Consider each other as unique individuals
Studies prove that managing the unique needs of your employees is a great way to develop trust. Consider everybody’s perspectives, pay attention to what they think, and try to integrate their viewpoints in the current team plan.
Organize brainstorming sessions and encourage team members to come up with creative ways of solving current challenges.
Appreciate the employee’s effort
Practice gratitude and say “еhank you” to your coworkers to show that you truly appreciate their contribution to the team. Even if they didn’t put in all their effort, this will encourage them to perform better and use their full potential, knowledge, and skills.
Giving and Receiving Feedback Helps Building Team Effectiveness
Effective high-performing teams always have some room for agile leadership development.
Companies should take care of their team members’ proficiency and knowledge and encourage them to grow professionally in order to keep pace with modern standards and trends.
The research (Weng & Mcelroy, 2010) demonstrated the strong connection between career growth and organizational development, meaning that having an opportunity to gain knowledge and improve your work-related skills increases the chances of achieving organizational success.
And giving feedback is one of the most powerful ways to help employees grow. The ways a company offers feedback to their employees significantly affects their engagement and commitment.
For example, outlining mistakes in front of their colleagues can promote team conflict instead of empowering the team.
In order to create a healthy feedback culture and encourage team members to incorporate the feedback in their actions, consider the following tips:
- Maintain a friendly tone in the process of giving feedback.
- Give feedback on one-on-one meetings instead of formal business gatherings to avoid team conflict.
- Try to create a safe feedback environment where employees are willing to receive feedback.
- Point out both positive and negative outcomes while giving feedback.
- Be empathetic and maintain a positive attitude.
How to Empower Your Team With Structure, Transparency, and Accountability
The modern workplace is accompanied by plenty of challenges and complex structures that can be hard for employees to understand. However, having a strong structure increases the chances of satisfying work performance.
A common understanding of your strategies, company’s goals, and team members’ responsibilities also contribute to increased team effectiveness.
Explaining the structure of the organization and making it more transparent could benefit your team in several different ways and contribute to organizational effectiveness.
Give People Clear Ownership and Create Accountability
In terms of the team level, accountability means that the team follows the guidelines step by step, finishes the projects before deadlines, and meets the expectations of the leader.
In order to empower the team level, the leader needs to create accountability in each team member. Every new project should have one obvious owner, responsible for the success or failure.
This one person should be accountable for his or her duties both for day-to-day work and long-term goals.
Accountability usually develops trust between team members and increases team productivity.
The team can achieve success more easily when each team member is responsible for different tasks.
Ways to Create and Accept More Accountability
Proper delegation of tasks:
The leader needs to understand team members’ differences in resources and delegate the tasks according to their skills and knowledge. Try to make sure that each project has its clear owner, responsible for all the tasks.
Have clear expectations about roles:
Your team members need to understand what exactly you expect from them. When people are fully aware of their role, they feel more confident to take charge of the work. Besides, understanding each other’s duties and roles leads to efficient conflict resolution between the team members.
Set long-term goals and explain them to the team members:
Being accountable to your team means defining what you’re trying to achieve in the long term. Being aware of long-term goals will help the team members to understand what they are trying to accomplish by doing daily tasks.
It will also increase transparency and motivate team members to take care of their responsibilities.
Transparency can be defined as open and honest communication with team members. Transparent work culture means that people have a clear image of the responsibilities and roles of each team member.
When the information flows freely between the leader and team members, the team climate usually becomes more cohesive, resulting in enhanced commitment and engagement of the members.
Leaders need to understand that being transparent doesn’t mean just sharing enough information. In fact, you need to create a culture of trust in order to let the team members feel comfortable while speaking publicly and asking questions.
Here are some tips to empower the team with transparency:
- Have realistic expectations.
- Be honest with team members to increase team leadership.
- Provide feedback.
- Share the information about the company’s goals and performance.
- Encourage communication between team members.
- Create a culture of trust.