Leadership

CHAPTER 16  TEam LEaDERShIP   493

Team Excellence and Collaborative Team Leader Questionnaire

Purpose: The purpose of this questionnaire is to assess your team’s strengths and weaknesses to help your team leader improve you overall effectiveness.

Instructions: This questionnaire contains questions about your team and the leadership within this team. Indicate whether you feel each statement is true or not true of your team. Use the following scale:

Key: 1 = False 2 = More false than true 3 = More true than false 4 = True

1. There is a clearly defined need—a goal to be achieved or a purpose to be served—that justifies the existence of our team. (team: clear, elevating goal)

1 2 3 4

2. We have an established method for monitoring individual performance and providing feedback. (team: results-driven structure)

1 2 3 4

3. Team members possess the essential skills and abilities to accomplish the team’s objectives. (team: competent team members)

1 2 3 4

4. Achieving our team goal is a higher priority than any individual objective. (team: unified commitment)

1 2 3 4

5. We trust each other sufficiently to accurately share information, perceptions, and feedback. (team: collaborative climate)

1 2 3 4

6. Our team exerts pressure on itself to improve performance. (team: standards of excellence)

1 2 3 4

7. Our team is given the resources it needs to get the job done. (team: external support and recognition)

1 2 3 4

8. If it’s necessary to adjust the team’s goal, our team leader makes sure we understand why. (leadership: focus on the goal)

1 2 3 4

9. Our team leader creates a safe climate for team members to openly and supportively discuss any issue related to the team’s success. (leadership: ensure collaborative climate)

1 2 3 4

10. Our team leader looks for and acknowledges contributions by team members. (leadership: build confidence)

1 2 3 4

11. Our team leader understands the technical issues we must face in achieving our goal. (leadership: demonstrate sufficient technical know-how)

1 2 3 4

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12. Our team leader does not dilute our team’s effort with too many priorities. (leadership: set priorities)

1 2 3 4

13. Our team leader is willing to confront and resolve issues associated with inadequate performance by team members. (leadership: manage performance)

1 2 3 4

Sources: Questions 1–7: Adapted from the Team Excellence Survey (copyright 1987 LaFasto and Larson; portions reprinted with permission of Profact). Questions 8–13: Adapted from the Collaborative Team Leader Instrument (copyright 1996 LaFasto and Larson; portions reprinted with permission).

Scoring Interpretation

In addition to such targeted questions on each of the criteria of excellence, the complete surveys ask open-ended questions to allow team members to com- ment on issues that might not be specifically covered in the directed questions, such as strengths and weaknesses of the team and its leadership, necessary changes, problematic norms, or issues that need to be addressed. The complete version of the survey is given to team members and the team leader, and all are involved in the diagnosis and the resulting action planning. Such a method is clearly consistent with the empowerment movement in organizational teams and helps address the enormous complexity involved in making teams effective.

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