INTRODUCTION: This survey is appropriate for teams consisting of members of different organizational groups. Typical examples would be cross functional task forces, product development teams, or process improvement teams. THE QUESTIONS: To what extent does your team show the following qualities or skills? Clear and open communication, even on difficult or emotionally charged topics Everyone works from a clear and appropriate definition of their role within the team People speak openly about their own obstacles, problems, and shortcomings We work together to solve problems We are careful to agree on the exact problem before moving ahead with solutions In problem solving, we thoroughly consider a range of options rather than taking the first solution available We make decisions as a group that do not unravel later on We make high-quality decisions rather than just acceptable compromises We follow up on previous decisions to ensure completion When we have strong differences of opinion, we still keep moving ahead effectively Our work together blends the efforts of different parts of the company into a more effective operation We make decisions in a timely manner, even when some members are unavailable We provide mutual support to each other We show respect and consideration for each other We balance our roles as team members versus our roles as representatives of other groups We pursue innovation and creativity rather than just repeating old solutions We are able to learn from our experience together so we avoid making the same mistakes twice Everyone works together to ensure that limited meeting time is well spent As a group, we show appreciation for the efforts of individual team members We celebrate team successes when appropriate I have the appropriate influence and impact on the team's decisions I am able to get the cooperation I need from other team members Given the way we work together, I am able to bring my full talents and experience to the team All things considered, how would you rate the quality of your team's interaction with each other? All things considered, how would you rate the effectiveness of your team? All things considered, how would you rate the quality of your individual contribution to the team? THE SCALE: The first block of questions uses the following scale: 1 Not at all 2 3 Somewhat 4 5 Mostly 6 7 To a great extent The last three questions use the following scale: 1 Poor 2 3 OK 4 5 Good 6 7 Excellent THE OUTCOME MEASURE: There are two outcome measures embedded in this survey. By "outcome measure", we mean that they reflect the fundamental requirement for success. They are typically not directly manipulatable, since they are the final consequence of other, more accessible, features of the team. For example, the "quality of the team's functioning" is an outcome measure, while the "thoroughness of exploring conflict" would be one of the potential contributors to that outcome. The level of these measures should be your primary concern. In the data analysis, there are options for determining which of the other items is the strongest contributor to our key outcomes. OUTCOME #1: The following questions reflect the OVERALL QUALITY OF TEAM'S FUNCTIONING: We make high-quality decisions rather than just acceptable compromises All things considered, how would you rate the effectiveness of your team? In the data analysis they should be averaged together into a single measure as long as they correlate with each other at +.60 or more. OUTCOME #2: The following questions reflect the OVERALL QUALITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL'S CONTRIBUTION: Given the way we work together, I am able to bring my full talents and experience to the team All things considered, how would you rate the quality of your individual contribution to the team? In the data analysis they should be averaged together into a single measure. PAGE FORMATING: The simplest format is to put the questions into a two-column table, with the questions in Column A and the response scale in Column B. If you print the page landscape, you can usually get the entire survey on one page, leaving the front of the page for a cover letter, explanation of purpose, pledge of confidentiality, etc. An alternate format is to print the survey in a portrait format with the scale options underneath each question. DATA ENTRY AND ANALYSIS: If you are fluent in using any data analysis package, you probably understand how this data can be analyzed. If you a novice at survey analysis -- or simply don't want to be come a statistician in your spare time -- the best procedure is probably to enter the data into a spreadsheet. Use a row for each respondent, and columns for each variable. The two outcome measures will generate an additional column, which is the average of the two component questions. If someone has no answer for a question, DO NOT enter zero; enter the equivalent for "NOT AVAILBLE" in your spreadsheet. Otherwise you will throw off any calculations of means and variances. When the data is entered, you should have a column of numbers for each variable. You can typically calculate the mean and variance for those columns in formulas at the bottom. The mean scores give you a sense for the level of a given issue. Scores lower than 4 typically represent areas for concern. Scan the variances for anything which is unusually high, such as 1.5 or more. These might reflect poor consensus on key issues, or perhaps a question that spawned numerous interpreptations. There is a special option for working with the outcome measures. If you calculate the correlation between the various questions and a given outcome measure, that will give you a rough estimate of how critical that question is in determining the outcome. If you are fluent in regression analysis, that could generate a more accurate estimate, but correlation is a good rough indicator. If the correlation for a given question is greater than +.50 you should consider that as a good candidate for a possible intervention. If you present the data back to a team, you might want to focus discussion on those questions with the highest correlations to the outcome measures. Those are the items with the highest leverage, even if their scores are not among the lowest.