Team Diagnostic Survey (Sample Sections from the Instrument)
Section Two
Here are some statements about your team and its purposes. Please indicate how accurately each of these fourteen statements describes your team. Try to be as objective as you can in responding to each statement -- regardless of whether you like or dislike being on the team.
How accurate is the statement in describing your team?
1
Team membership is quite clear--everybody knows exactly who is and isn't on this team.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
2
There is great uncertainty and ambiguity about what this team is supposed to accomplish.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
3
This team's purposes are so challenging that members have to stretch to accomplish them.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
4
Different people are constantly joining and leaving this team.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
5
This team's purposes are specified so clearly that all members should know exactly what the team exists to accomplish.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
6
Members of this team have their own individual jobs to do, with little need for them to work together.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
7
There is so much ambiguity about who is on this team that it would be nearly impossible to generate an accurate membership list.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
8
This team's purposes are not especially challenging--achieving them is well within reach.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
9
This team is quite stable, with few changes in membership.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
10
The purposes of this team don't make much of a difference to anybody else.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
11
Generating the outcome or product of this team requires a great deal of communication and coordination among members.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
12
This team's purposes are of great consequence for those we serve.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
13
Anyone who knows this team could accurately name all its members.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
14
Members of this team have to depend heavily on one another to get the team's work done.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
Section Three
This section asks two summary questions about your team's purposes and its authority.
A. Overall, which of the four alternatives listed below comes closest to describing your team's purposes?
The purposes of our team are specified by others, but the means and procedures we use to accomplish them are left to us.
The means or procedures we are supposed to use in our work are specified in detail by others, but the purposes of our team are left unstated.
Both the purposes of our team and the means or procedures we are supposed to use in our work are specified in detail by others.
Neither the purposes nor the means are specified by others for our team.
No Response.
B. Beyond actually carrying out the work, does your team have the authority to decide about other matters?
Please choose either "no" or "yes" for each of the four items listed below.
Our team also has the authority...
No
Yes
No Response
1
...to monitor our own work processes and to change or adjust them if needed
2
....to select new team members, or to ask an existing member to leave the team
3
....to alter features of the larger organization that are affecting our team or its work
(for example, the resources available to us, the information we receive, training procedures, and so on)
4
....to specify what our team exists to accomplish, its main purposes.
Section Six
This section asks you to describe the person who serves as your team's main leader or manager.
(This person will be referred to below as the "team leader" even though his or her actual title
may be something different.)
A. Please indicate who that person is by putting his or her initials in this blank:
B. Are you the team leader?
No
Yes
No Response
C.
Here are some statements that could describe the team leader's behavior. For each of these fourteen statements, choose the rating that is most accurate in describing the behavior of your team leader.
The team leader...
1
...helps members learn from one another and from the team's work experiences.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
2
...works with the team to develop the best-possible approach to its work.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
3
...helps the team build a high shared commitment to its purposes.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
4
...micromanages the content and process of team meetings.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
5
...helps members resolve any conflicts that may develop among them.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
6
...provides positive feedback when the team behaves or performs well.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
7
...provides corrective feedback when needed.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
8
...helps the team sustain the motivation of all members
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
9
...instructs the team in detail about how to solve its problems.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
10
...helps members work on improving their interpersonal relationships.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
11
...keeps the team alert to anything that might require a change of work strategy.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
12
...helps the team identify and use well each member's unique talents.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
13
...tells the team everything it is doing wrong.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
14
...gives inappropriate or undeserved praise or criticism.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
No Response
D. Different team leaders make different choices about what they focus on in helping a team.
Please put a "1" in the blank beside the activity below that receives the greatest attention from your
leader. Then put a "2" in the blank beside the activity that receives the next most attention from your
leader, and so on for all four activities.
Coaching individual team members
Helping team members learn how to work well together
Getting the team set up right--clarifying its purpose, picking members, structuring the task, setting expectations, and so on
Running external interference for the team--getting resources, securing outside assistance, removing roadblocks, and so on
E. Overall, how helpful is your
team leader in building your team's capabilities?
Detrimental: The leader's actions undermine our development as a team.
Mostly unhelpful
Neither particularly helpful or unhelpful
Mostly helpful
Quite helpful: The leader's actions significantly build the team's capabilities
No Response
Section Eight
Listed below are a number of statements that could describe how members of a team work together.
Please indicate how accurately each of these thirteen statements describes the dynamics of your team.
How accurate is the statement in describing the way members of your team work together?
1
Members demonstrate their commitment to our team by putting in extra time and effort to help it succeed.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
2
Our team often comes up with innovative ways of proceeding with the work that turn out to be just what is needed.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
3
How seriously a member's ideas are taken by others on our team often depends more on who the person is than on how much he or she actually knows.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
4
There is a lot of unpleasantness among members of this team.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
5
Everyone on this team is highly motivated to have the team succeed.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
6
The longer we work together as a team, the less well we do.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
7
Some members of our team do not carry their fair share of the overall workload.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
8
Members of our team actively share their special knowledge and expertise with one another.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
9
Our team often falls into mindless routines, without noticing any changes that may have occurred in our situation.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
10
Working together energizes and uplifts members of our team.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
11
Our team has a great deal of difficulty actually carrying out the plans we make for how we will proceed with the task.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
12
Every time someone attempts to correct a team member whose behavior is not acceptable, things seem to get worse rather than better.
Very Inaccurate
Somewhat Inaccurate
Neither
Somewhat Accurate
Very Accurate
No Response
13
Our team is quite skilled at capturing the lessons that can be learned from our work experiences.