Teamwork Survey

Objectives

To identify the present stage of the teamwork model that your team is presently operating in.

Directions

This questionnaire contains statements about teamwork. Next to each question, indicate how often your team displays each behavior by using the following scoring system:

• Almost never - 1
• Seldom - 2
• Occasionally - 3
• Frequently - 4
• Almost always - 5

Questionnaire

1. _____ We try to have set procedures or protocols to ensure that things are orderly and run smoothly (e.g. minimize interruptions, everyone gets the opportunity to have their say).

    

2. _____ We are quick to get on with the task on hand and do not spend too much time in the planning stage.

    

3. _____ Our team feels that we are all in it together and shares responsibilities for the team's success or failure.

    

4. _____ We have thorough procedures for agreeing on our objectives and planning the way we will perform our tasks.

    

5. _____ Team members are afraid or do not like to ask others for help.

    

6. _____ We take our team's goals and objectives literally, and assume a shared understanding.

    

7. _____ The team leader tries to keep order and contributes to the task at hand.

    

8. _____ We do not have fixed procedures, we make them up as the task or project progresses.

    

9. _____ We generate lots of ideas, but we do not use many because we fail to listen to them and reject them without fully understanding them.

    

10. _____ Team members do not fully trust the other team members and closely monitor others who are working on a specific task.

     

11. _____ The team leader ensures that we follow the procedures, do not argue, do not interrupt, and keep to the point.

     

12. _____ We enjoy working together; we have a fun and productive time.

     

13. _____ We have accepted each other as members of the team.

     

14. _____ The team leader is democratic and collaborative.

     

15. _____ We are trying to define the goal and what tasks need to be accomplished.

     

16. _____ Many of the team members have their own ideas about the process and personal agendas are rampant.

     

17. _____ We fully accept each other's strengths and weakness.

     

18. _____ We assign specific roles to team members (team leader, facilitator, time keeper, note taker, etc.).

     

19. _____ We try to achieve harmony by avoiding conflict.

     

20. _____ The tasks are very different from what we imagined and seem very difficult to accomplish.

     

21. _____ There are many abstract discussions of the concepts and issues, which make some members impatient with these discussions.

     

22. _____ We are able to work through group problems.

     

23. _____ We argue a lot even though we agree on the real issues.

     

24. _____ The team is often tempted to go above the original scope of the project.

     

25. _____ We express criticism of others constructively

     

26. _____ There is a close attachment to the team.

     

27. _____ It seems as if little is being accomplished with the project's goals.

     

28. _____ The goals we have established seem unrealistic.

     

29. _____ Although we are not fully sure of the project's goals and issues, we are excited and proud to be on the team.

     

30. _____ We often share personal problems with each other.

     

31. _____ There is a lot of resisting of the tasks on hand and quality improvement approaches.

     

32. _____ We get a lot of work done.

Part 2 - Scoring

Next to each survey item number below, transfer the score that you give that item on the questionnaire. For example, if you scored item one with a 3 (Occasionally), then enter a 3 next to item one below. When you have entered all the scores for each question, total each of the four columns.

This questionnaire is to help you assess what stage your team normally operates. It is based on the Tuckman Model of  Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. The lowest score possible for a stage is 8 (Almost never) while the highest score possible for a stage is 40 (Almost always).

The highest of the four scores indicates which stage you perceive your team to normally operates in. If your highest score is 32 or more, it is a strong indicator of the stage your team is in.

The lowest of the three scores is an indicator of the stage your team is least like. If your lowest score is 16 or less, it is a strong indicator that your team does not operate this way.

If two of the scores are close to the same, you are probably going through a transition phase, except:

• If you score high in both the Forming and Storming Phases then you are in the Storming Phase
• If you score high in both the Norming and Performing Phases then you are in the Performing Stage

If there is only a small difference between three or four scores, then this indicates that you have no clear perception of the way your team operates, the team's performance is highly variable, or that you are in the storming phase (this phase can be extremely volatile with high and low points).

Reliability and Validity

Since this survey is a learning tool used in training programs such as leadership development, rather than a research tool, it has not been formally checked for reliability or validity. However, since I have received feedback from various sources and has been updated numerous times, I believe it to be a fairly accurate tool.

Next Steps

Next chapter: Team Leadership Model

Next learning activity: Team Leadership Learning Activity

Return to the Leadership Training and Development Outline

Notes

Updated September 1, 2016. Created January 1, 1998.

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