Team Essentials Assessment Overview

A basic team assumption is that if team members work well together, team performance will be enhanced. Team Effectiveness measures how people work together, which is a core part of any team performance assessment. Team Effectiveness sub-components include communication, trust, collaboration, innovation, conflict resolution, mutual accountability, commitment, and cohesion. These areas provide essential insight for leaders who want to evaluate and monitor team performance and understand how teamwork impacts overall results. This Team Essentials component consists of 21 questions and is offered in both the Complete and Basic Assessment options.

To earn team membership, an individual must perform his or her duties to the fullest degree possible. Individual contribution sub-components include skill level, talents, attributes, personal accountability, attitudes, and motivation of the individual. These elements play an important role in any team performance assessment, as individual behaviors directly influence overall team results. This section also considers how the individual lives the organizational values, strives toward achieving the vision, and contributes to the mission of the organization. These insights help leaders evaluate team performance by understanding the strengths each member brings to the team. This Team Essentials component consists of 33 questions and is offered only in the Complete Assessment option.

For teamwork to be efficient, structures, processes, procedures, and guidelines need to be in place. Structure sub-components include group norms and guidelines, coordination, planning and decision making, roles and responsibilities, and documentation. Clear structure provides essential context for any team performance assessment, helping leaders understand how well a team is organized and whether systems support effective collaboration. These elements also contribute to the evaluation of team performance by showing how team processes influence outcomes. This Team Essentials component consists of 19 questions and is offered only in the Complete Assessment option.

At the team level, leadership is defined as both the management and the leadership of a team. Typically there is a relationship between effective and efficient team leadership and team performance. Great leadership gets great results and poor leadership gets poor results. Leadership sub-components include direction from leader, leadership approach, and feedback from the leader. Because leadership strongly influences team dynamics and outcomes, this area provides meaningful insight during a team performance assessment, helping leaders understand how their approach impacts overall results. These elements also support the evaluation of team performance by highlighting how leadership behaviors shape team effectiveness. This Team Essentials component consists of 20 questions and is offered only in the Complete Assessment option.

Team performance is dependent upon organizational support. Teams need intra-organizational support, abundant resources, sufficient budgets, dedicated team time, necessary training, functional support, and organizational leadership support. For higher performance, teaming needs to be included in the organizational philosophy (mission, vision, values, and culture). Organizational Support sub-components include resources and support, organizational recognition, and inter-team dynamics. Because organizational systems heavily influence team outcomes, this area provides key context within a team performance assessment, helping leaders understand how well the environment enables team success. These insights also contribute to the broader evaluation of team performance, revealing whether the organization itself supports or hinders effective teamwork. This Team Essentials component consists of 15 questions and is offered only in the Complete Assessment option.

Team Type impacts how a team is perceived and how it performs. Team Type is collected as a demographic on the Team Essentials Assessment. In the near future, performance data will be additionally provided specifically by team type. Understanding these variations supports a more accurate team performance assessment, since team structure and context often influence results. Team Type includes team type, duration, location, number of team members, and team relationship, all of which help leaders assess team performance within the appropriate team context.