Photo by Oluwaseyi Johnson
Healthy teams are effective teams that meet goals, produce high-quality work, and delight customers.
When we measure team health, we step away from these outcomes of the team – however valuable they may be – and instead look at the team itself. What environment are they working in? How do the team members feel about the work they’re doing? How do they feel about each other?
Psychological safety was most recently popularized by Amy Edmonson and supported by Google’s Project Aristotle research into what makes teams successful. Beyond psychological safety, factors like Dan Pink’s autonomy, mastery, and purpose, plus other aspects like diversity, trust, authenticity, and belonging are all of what make a team healthy.
Our Team Health Assessment is a starting point for teams to identify overall team health and to identify areas of opportunity.
The assessment tool is a Google Sheet. To use it, you will need to make your own copy by clicking File > Make a copy, or you can download it by clicking File > Download. Once you have your own copy, have each team member take the assessment and then average the results. Alternatively, take the assessment together as a team to discuss the questions in real time.
Don’t worry too much about the score. Use the tool to help the team identify an area for improvement. Make a plan to improve in that area, and then check back and see if the plan worked. We recommend doing the assessment every 3 months or so, to monitor your progress towards becoming a happier, healthier team.
Want some help with improving your teams’ health? Come to our twice-monthly Scrum Professionals Office Hours to receive free advice and support from our community of agile practitioners. Send us an email if you would like more hands-on support.
Here’s to healthier teams!