Team Diagnostic Survey

The Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS) is a well-validated instrument designed to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of teams. Drs. Ruth Wageman, Richard Hackman, and Erin Lehman at Harvard developed this assessment based on their research about the major conditions that foster team effectiveness. The TDS produces a thorough report showing scores on the 6 Team Conditions, 3 Key Task Processes that emerge from those conditions, and 3 outcome measures of Team Effectiveness.

View Sample TDS

 

Case Study

Before

A cross-functional management team working in the biotechnology field was struggling with sales stagnation and therefore a decline in profitability. Multiple leaders and strategies were employed but the situation proved difficult to turn around. The CEO felt that the main cause was the presence of significant misunderstandings between critical functions (e.g. marketing, product management, production, finance, operations, etc...). Team members would often walk away from team meetings with different views on who was doing what despite thinking they were all on the same page. The client requested a 1-day workshop to “fix the problem.”

After

A licensed 6 Team Conditions & Team Diagnostic Survey™ practitioner engaged the organization in a 6-month team coaching process. Following brief interviews with a cross-section of organizational members, it was agreed in consultation with the leadership of the company that a 1-day workshop wouldn’t be sufficient to move the needle. Instead, one mission critical and cross-functional team--the Sales, Inventory and Operations Team (SIOP)--would receive a 6 month team coaching intervention to attempt to turn the organization around. The team’s effectiveness was measured at baseline using the Team Diagnostic Survey™ as well as a number of critical KPIs. A 1.5 day launch retreat was organized and 6 months of periodic team coaching sessions took place. Dramatic changes in the team’s effectiveness were observed in the Time 2 TDS results as well as in the critical KPIs. By helping the team gain laser-like focus on its compelling purpose, the right people to include in the team, and developing winning norms and ways of working, the team was able in a short period of time to increase its effectiveness and more importantly reverse the company’s decline.

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Key Facts

  • Psychometrically sound, peer-reviewed, and validated using data collected on over 1,000 teams globally (explore the research)
  • Produces a 27-page report including detailed feedback on the 6 Conditions, 3 Key Task Processes and 3 Team Effectiveness Outcomes, as well as qualitative and quantitative feedback (see a sample report)
  • Distributed through a global network of certified TDS practitioners
  • Used by top teams in Fortune 500 companies, public sector teams and non-profit organizations
  • Used by leadership teams, startup teams, agile teams, flight crews, surgical teams, project teams, sales teams, operations teams, finance teams, professional services teams and more
  • Available in English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, German, Arabic and Persian (coming soon: Italian, Swedish)
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Pulse Check Survey

  • Fully validated against performance metrics
  • Designed to produce quick repeated measures of the 6 Conditions, 3 Key Task processes and 3 Criteria of Effectiveness
  • 22 items, less than 3 minutes – easily completed on a phone or tablet
  • Useable with any team for which you have run a Full Report
  • Produces a basic TDS report that mirrors the main graphs in the full TDS report
  • Repeated measures report in progress, shows changes in the team over time