TEAM INSIGHTS - CultureDrivers

TEAM INSIGHTS

Here we share selected "team insights" from working with the CultureDrivers assessment

#1: 42% of all teams face at least one serious challenge

Studying the scores of hundreds of teams we can report that 4 out of 10 teams have a serious challenge on at least one of the 10 Drivers of high performance: A Driver that is scored among the lowest 15% of all teams, when assessed by the team members.
 
If we look specifically among the 6 WE-Drivers - the Drivers of team collaboration and adaptability - 3 out of 10 teams has one or more that falls critically low (31% has one or more Drivers in lowest 15% of all teams).
 
Still, the good news are that, once acknowledged, every challenge can be overcome with deliberate effort, freeing extra potential in the team.

#2: Team effectiveness varies greatly - even within divisions or business units

The example below illustrates 9 teams (each team a column, with two pyramids). You do not need to understand the visuals - only that green is great and red/yellow not so great.
 
We have seen these huge differences from team to team for every singe organization or business unit we have assessed.
 
Most often, it comes as a surprise to the leader responsible across the teams. And often, it's even a surprise which teams are high- and the low-performers.
 
A key insight is: If you mostly speak to the leader of a team, you might have an idea about how well his/her team is performing - but you are often wrong!

#3: Teams that are in trouble knows it - they just do not know how to deal with it

The first many times we needed to confront a team with really low scores, we were quite concerned about their reaction. So far, there have not been basis for this concern. That's because teams in trouble are well aware of their challenges.
 
But, knowing that you have problems is certainly not the same as knowing how to deal with them.
 
We have often seen teams explaining their problems in anecdotal form:
"It's because John and Ahmed always get into a fight"
"We are simply too busy to collaborate, so we divide and conquer"
"We have never been a good team"
When teams get the feedback from the statements they have rated themselves, they often come up with specific ideas about what to adjust. And with a bit of help, teams can most often get past their dysfunctions simply by adjusting a few bad habits.