Overview of the

Team Health Check Questionnaire

“Coming together is a beginning.

Working together is success

Alyse Ashton &

The Team Health check model copyright

Alyse Ashton:

Richard Spence:

Overview of the

Team Health Check Questionnaire

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success”. (Henry Ford

Developed By

Alyse Ashton & Richard Spence

The Team Health check model copyright Ashton and Spence Sept 2011

Alyse Ashton: alyse@theteamhealthcheck.com 0118 9331079

Richard Spence: richard@theteamhealthcheck.com 020 7243 3295

17/03/2014 1

Team Health Check Questionnaire

Keeping together is progress.

Henry Ford)

Ashton and Spence Sept 2011 - 2014

0118 9331079

020 7243 3295

17/03/2014 2

About the Team Health Check (THC) The THC is a bespoke tool designed to create objective discussion

about team performance. It enables individuals and teams to

benchmark strengths and development needs across eight aspects

of team high-performance. It helps you:

• Take stock of team performance against the 8 critical

measures

• Identify priorities to move team performance to the next

level

• Spark strong, positive shifts in performance.

The THC is able to trigger open, honest conversations so teams see

their strengths, face up to their areas of development and take

action to address them.

We created this model drawing on our experience of working with

teams in organisations and through meta research of current

thinking in this field. We then tested and refined our thinking with

leaders. The model isn’t intended to be exhaustive – we’ve

focused on factors we have found make the most difference.

There are 2 versions of the tool:

A free version for individuals who want to get a snapshot of their own view of a team. This gives you a short

report and thoughts and ideas for what to do next.

The team version. All members of a team complete the THC and receive their individual reports. The team

leader or coach has access to the full team report. This shows consolidated quantitative and qualitative data,

detailed graphs and tables with team performance ratings and ideas to address team development. Data in

the team report is anonymised so team members are confident to give frank answers.

You can download sample reports from the homepage at www.theteamhealthcheck.com.

How the Team Health Check can help you:

• As Leader/ CEO/ HR/ L&D – Use it to review the performance of a team and create a clear set of

priorities to move forward.

• As a Team – Share your perspectives about team performance, celebrate your successes, and think

about key priorities and why these are important. Make a plan to raise your game.

• As a Team coach/ facilitator – Use this to home in on what will help this team take the next step so

you can focus your efforts on what matters most.

• As an organisation – Use this tool as a temperature check. Which teams have the most impact and

how do they stack up? Where could you invest time and effort to get the most return?

“I really like it.

Comprehensive in the

critical dimensions of

team effectiveness, very

simple to use and

understand. I recently

recommended it to one

of our leadership teams -

they got great value from

a dialogue about

improving performance

based on the results.”

Tim Haynes, Head of

Leadership and OD, GSK

17/03/2014 3

The Team Health Check Model

We have identified 8 critical areas which impact team performance. These are grouped into 4

themes: Direction, Commitment to Results, Ownership and Conditions for Success. The

questionnaire includes 49 statements (between 5 and 7 per section) and takes 10-15 minutes to

complete.

Dir

ect

ion

Outward Focus and Communication High performing teams are never insular: informed direction and decisions rely on knowing

what’s going on outside the team. They gather external information and use it well to ensure

they change course when needed.

Clarity of Shared Direction When team members have a shared understanding of what they are trying to achieve, why

and what success looks like, it results in the best outcomes. Team members need to show the

way and model the right behaviours – both in terms of direction and how people behave and

work together.

Co

mm

itm

en

t to

R

esu

lts

Focus on Results and Outcomes The team pays attention to the things that matter and their proper direction. Team members

make tough calls, consciously divide their time and stay focused on their joint goals.

Courageous Challenge The team confronts reality and has frank conversations. This creates energy and a sense of

striving for success. There is positive challenge with the intention of improving outcomes

rather than protecting egos and turf or playing political power games.

Ow

ne

rsh

ip

Joint Accountability Team members take responsibility for their own part in delivering the team’s goals and helping

others to achieve them. Failing to deliver or letting others down is not OK.

Commitment Walking in the room, you feel the team’s energy and purpose– team members are heard,

decisions are clear and there’s clarity about what has been agreed.

Co

nd

itio

ns

for

Su

cce

ss

Feeling Trust Everyone treats each other with respect, is open on uncomfortable issues and takes time to

understand others’ needs. It’s OK to admit mistakes and weaknesses.

Enabling High Quality Thinking Teams that demonstrate high quality attention, create space for each other to speak and

explore their thinking with real curiosity generate new thinking and deliver results.

17/03/2014 4

The THC is designed to give you a structured method of analysing team effectiveness but developing a team is

not a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Whilst we offer prompts and suggestions to help you think it through, we

don’t prescribe next steps. These will depend on your team and circumstances. That’s where further

discussion with an experienced internal or external team development professional can help.

What next?

Completing the questionnaire and review should give you greater clarity and a view on your appetite

for change. If you want further support, you will decide whether you have the skills you need

internally or require external expertise. We hope you find the THC useful and would like to hear

about your experiences. We welcome input and ideas.

If you need more

Clients often call on our support where there are ‘trickier’ team dynamics. If you decide you want

more than your current support can offer, we provide:

• A full debrief of the THC leading to an action plan

• Tailored solutions to address your specific team’s development goals

• Team and 1:1 coaching using the THC to measure progress

• Psychological depth and commercial expertise in creating sustained improvements in Team

performance

We will explore your organisation’s specific needs and challenges. Our intention is that you get

better results. We look for the impact in everything we do because clarity of vision + clarity of

implementation = results.

About the Authors We work individually and with our trusted team to design and deliver executive coaching and coach

training, team and leadership development, facilitation and communications. We work globally in a

wide range of sectors with senior executives, leaders and high-potential individuals.

Alyse Ashton

Alyse is a renowned, accredited coach and facilitator who works with leadership

talent across the world. She has over 25 years’ experience in developing and

coaching senior individuals and teams to create step changes for themselves and

their businesses.

Richard Spence

Richard coaches and develops senior leaders, teams and boards across the world,

combining the creativity of a BAFTA-winning film director with strong, practical

results. He writes for books for business and, recently, a series of key speeches for a

major Olympic sponsor.

17/03/2014 5

Clients we work with include:

BP, SJ Berwin LLP, KPMG, Barclays , FMC Technologies

Inc., Moody’s, Mercer, BAE Systems, GE Healthcare,

Standard Chartered Bank, Zurich Financial Services, Club

Med, Barry Callebaut, Hewlett Packard, Airbus

(Toulouse), Dechert LLP, Lloyds, Visa Europe, Siemens,

the WPP Group, Carat, BBC, Channel Four, Discovery

Network, Walt Disney, Reuters, Warner Bros., Deloitte,

Cap Gemini, The Cabinet Office, Home Office, DEFRA,

Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, The

Scottish Government, Royal Sun Alliance, Innocent, New

Look, Fjord, eBay, hotels.com, TalkTalk, Samaritans,

Leonard Cheshire.

How to contact us: Click the 'Contact us' tab on the THC website or contact us directly:

Alyse +44 (0)118 9331079/ +44 (0)7760 176777

alyse@theteamhealthcheck.com

Richard +44 (0) 20 7243 3295/ +44 (0)7976 959785

richard@theteamhealthcheck.com

Fair use:

The Team Health Check was developed by Alyse Ashton and Richard Spence and the copyright jointly owned by Eye 2 Eye

Development Ltd and Clear Pictures Ltd. You may use this model with clients or colleagues provided you do not change or adapt it in

any way. You may print, share or forward our PDF and documents in their entirety but should not cut and paste the content or any

part of it into anything else. In particular, please ensure our biographies, logos and company details remain part of the documents

and that you refer to us if creating supporting slides to explain the model. Do get in touch if you would like to discuss different ways to

use the model. We reserve the right to change the conditions of use at any time.

“Personable, straight talking

and inventive”“Masters of the

mental model behind people’s

behaviour”

“Incredible benefits from years

of commercial experience and

psychological understanding

with none of the ‘allergic

reaction’ you get to other

consultants”

“You got to know our business

and our people and that makes

a huge difference”