Team Effectiveness Assessment

Regardless of whether you are leading an intact or project team, are located under one roof, or spread across the country, all team leaders want the same thing: to see their team be optimally effective. But what's the reality? Just how effective are you, actually? To help you find out, read on to learn more about team effectiveness assessments and take one for yourself! 

What Is a Team Effectiveness Assessment? 

A team effectiveness assessment is a tool team leaders can use to help identify their team's strengths and potential areas of weakness for improvement. Typically, topics such as commitment, communication, clarity, accountability, psychological safety, culture, and achievements, are assessed. Ideally, once the assessment is taken, a team leader will corroborate their findings with the team and then put an action plan in place to make the necessary improvements.

Take the Free Team Effectiveness Assessment

To get the most realistic results possible from this free team effectiveness assessment, do not answer the questions on what you think the right answer should be, but how it actually is based on the day-to-day actions and behaviors of your team.

25 Questions to Ask to Assess Team Effectiveness

Find out what your team thinks about how effective they are by running through the following list of 25 questions based on the assessment above in your next staff meeting. As you do so, pay attention to how their answers reflect or differentiate from your own, and then work together to brainstorm ideas on how you can improve as a team. 

1. Do we know the strengths of their teammates and play to them? 
2. Do you understand your roles, responsibilities, and priorities, as well as those of your teammates? 
3. Do we know how our contributions fit into the greater organization? 
4. Do we consistently achieve our goals? 
5. Do we have metrics to track our progress? Have we set time-bound milestones and plans on how we will celebrate achieving them? 
6. Do we have a reputation for high performance within the company? 
7. Do we believe in the team's vision and objectives, and act in a way that reflects that? 
8. Have we established our own values and ground rules? 
9. When a teammate goes against the team’s values and ground rules, do you feel comfortable calling them out in order to correct it? 
10. Do we have the resources we need to be successful? 
11. Does our level of effort remain consistent through the highs and lows? 
12. Do we admit our mistakes and seek out each other's help to fix them?
13. Do we follow through on our promises and commitments to each other?
14. Do we have lively conversations about both work and non-work-related topics? 
15. Do we frequently give each other status updates?  
16. Do we openly share time, knowledge, and resources for the good of the team? 
17. Does everyone come prepared to team meetings and actively participate in them? 
18. When we fall short of our goals, do we point fingers or place blame? Or do we work together to think of what to do differently next time?
19. Do we feel comfortable challenging each other? Is it done in a respectful way? 
20. Are we accepting of constructive feedback from each other? 
21. Do we shy away from difficult conversations? 
22. Are we quick to apologize to one another? Are we mindful not to harbor resentment or grudges that could impede our work? 
23. Do we look to one another for help solving day-to-day issues and roadblocks? 
24. Do we confide in one another and feel comfortable being vulnerable? 
25. Do we celebrate each other's successes and achievements? 

Additional Reading

Now that you have an idea of where your team stands in terms of its effectiveness, you may be keen to improve. If so, we recommend implementing the tips, tricks, and tools from the following resources in your day-to-day life as a team leader: 

Team Alignment Worksheet: Facilitate a discussion about your team's goals, values, and behaviors with the help of this editable worksheet. 

What You Need to Know About Team Vision: A team vision summarizes the purpose of your team and answers the question of what you aspire to do. Granted, this is easier said than done. To learn more about how to create and articulate a strong team vision, this article is a must-read.

Staff Meetings Toolkit - Lead the Meeting You’ve Always Wanted to Attend: If you're hosting meetings with your team that are subpar, you can be unknowingly compromising your team's effectiveness. Fortunately, you can start leading better team meetings, both in-person and virtual, with the help of this toolkit.

The Biggest Team Culture Mistake You Don’t Want To Make...: The single biggest mistake you can make when it comes to team culture is doing nothing about it. In fact, by taking a laissez-faire attitude about it, you lose the opportunity to create a culture and environment that stimulates team performance and effectiveness. 

Team Accountability Assessment: Given that a crucial component of team effectiveness is accountability, team leaders should look closely at whether or not their team has the necessary level of accountability. To help you do so, start by taking this assessment.