The Top Teaming Diagnostic: how Do We Get From Here to There?

In our work with Leadership Teams, we are constantly asking these questions:

1. Given the mission and purpose of your organization, what kind of team do you need to be to accomplish it?
2. How do you raise the bar of your leadership team(s)’ ability to really think and execute together to create the results you have promised to stakeholders and employees?
3. How do you drive responsibility and alignment down the organization to grow capable, accountable, and really engaged teams at all levels?
4. What is the difference between a “Top Team” and a good team?

We utilize a diagnostic called the TopTeaming Assessmenttm  to provide clear and compelling data about how your team is currently operating against where they say they need to be optimally functioning.  The TTA is an on-line questionnaire that allows members of a team to really dialogue about how and where they are operating together.  In fact we use this instrument as the basis of a full day “Advance” in which the team addresses the most critical issues (usually known but unexpressed) and gets clarity on:

 What kind of team are we?  What kind of team do we need to be to accomplish our most critical priorities? What are the gaps and how do we close them?
 How do we better drive the critical priorities in our organization?
 How do we better define and navigate the critical intersections between roles?
 How do we increase levels of trust, candor, and openness within our team?
 Creating an “energy audit” to ensure we are working at our highest and best.
 How do we optimize our execution and operational excellence?
 How well are we developing our leaders and teams 1-3 levels down?

One of the most compelling uses of this assessment is to provoke a different level and intensity of dialogue among team members that is substantively deeper than most meetings.  It is a way to step back, look at the team, and together ask some of the hard but critical questions that elevate and align groups of smart and committed leaders into teams that can really address the difficult issues of doing business in a volatile, interdependent, and fast-changing world.

Since we know that time is the great commodity of leaders, having an instrument that drives great value by surfacing and addressing the most critical issues represents a new and powerful way of driving real team development and full engagement, something that is substantially different from most “team-building” activities. This is the atmosphere where “trust over peace” occurs.

The outcome of this “Advance” is to gain alignment on determining and driving those critical few priorities needed for your team to “raise their game” from a good team to a Top Team.  And the TTA provides a baseline for improvement.  Most teams will utilize it every 6 months to track progress and re-define areas of focus.

For more information about the TopTeaming Assessment, please visit www.TopTeaming.com or contact us at +1 404 377 9408