Every time I start an engagement with a new organization (or a specific department or practice group within), I run a Team Health Assessment. This is a two-part exercise. First, I send all team members an anonymous survey with a set of quantitative and qualitative questions covering trust, ownership, conflict, and accountability. You can find a sample survey using the download link below. That survey provides an overall sense of strengths and weaknesses so I know where to dig further. Then I conduct a series of interviews with a smaller sample of the team, going much deeper to surface specific examples and stories that help illuminate the underlying team dynamics. Once finished, I then compile a report for the senior leaders, anonymizing details to protect confidentiality, and we use that report to inform training priorities.

This two-part process is more informative than either surveys or interviews alone. Surveys provide useful information, but because they are usually anonymous, there is no way to follow up. It becomes too easy to dismiss some responses as outliers or ignore data points that seem ambiguous. Meanwhile, interviews provide greater depth but lack the breadth of surveys, since you cannot usually interview everyone, and even if you could, you cannot ask them every question under the sun in the limited time you have.

Although every team is different, consider using this one-two punch of surveys and interviews when you conduct an assessment of your team. The survey data provides a heatmap and helps tailor the interview questions that follow, the combination of which is as efficient and informative as it gets.

It’s important to note that you should not expect to score well in all aspects of this assessment. In fact, some of the results might make you cringe. These feelings are normal. An honest assessment is the only way forward. You have to establish a baseline, even if the baseline is rock bottom. But I promise: with time and commitment, any team can be turned around.