Proven framework for team effectiveness

The Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS) based on the 6 Conditions framework is a deeply researched and well-validated team effectiveness assessment.

The Research

The 6 Conditions for Team Effectiveness Framework comes from decades of research by leading teams scholars at Harvard University. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman, and their students and colleagues have studied thousands of teams around the world, in a wide range of industries, sectors, and cultural contexts. Their work identified 6 Conditions that are all actionable, designable elements of teams and together they foster great teamwork and significant accomplishment over time. The research about these 6 fundamental conditions has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and books. (See Publications)

Highlights:

  • Wageman et al.’s (2008) study of 127 senior leadership teams from around the world showed that less than 25% were outstanding teams (“Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to Make them Great”). Those that were outstanding scored radically better on the 6 Conditions, and together the 6 Conditions predicted 60% of the variation in team effectiveness.

  • Hackman’s (2011) study of teams in the US intelligence community showed that Real Teams that were well designed and whose work was interdependent developed a self-managing approach to peer coaching; the 6 Conditions accounted for 74% of the variance in intelligence team effectiveness.

  • Wageman’s (2001) study of customer service teams showed that the last of the 6 Conditions (Team Coaching) only made a difference to team effectiveness when the team’s were well designed on the other 5 Conditions. In other words, only Real Teams that already had a Compelling Purpose, Right People, Sound Structure and a Supportive Context could take advantage of excellent Team Coaching around their work processes; when they were well-designed, Team Coaching made a significant positive difference in their performance and self-management over time.

The 6 Conditions framework has informed a wide range of team studies: Change leadership teams (Higgins et al., 2011), healthcare teams (Edmondson, 1999); engineering and design teams (Kim & McNair, 2010); knowledge work teams (Haas, 2010) and many more.

The Team Diagnostic Survey™ is the world’s #1 team effectiveness instrument. 

The Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS) can measure your team’s standing on the 6 Conditions.

The TDS is a proprietary instrument developed by Harvard scholars and practitioners — Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman and Erin Lehman.  Their research identified 6 conditions that together predict up to 80% of a team’s effectiveness. This instrument and its underlying framework enables teams, team leaders and team facilitators to effectively design, launch and coach great teams. 

The TDS Framework identifies 6 Conditions (3 Essential – Real Team, Compelling Purpose, and Right People and 3 Enabling – Sound Structure, Supportive Context, and Team Coaching) that dramatically increase the chances of a team becoming high performing.