Just as leaders can be assessed for their Cognitive Abilities (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ), so too can teams be assessed for their collective capacity and performance. The construct of Team Quotient (TQ) has been around for over three decades now, but few leaders know about it, fewer understand it, and fewer still actually assess it. Click below for a short outline of TQ and why it matters.

You've likely heard or even used the phrase "context matters". Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to team dynamics and performance. Team assumptions, competitors, stakeholders, and inustry all play an important role in informing the priorities, purpose, and talent mix of teams. Without understanding team context, little else matters. Click below for an exercise you can use to better understand your team's shared context. 

Does your team have a clear purpose or mission? Is everyone on the team fully aligned to that purpose? Are your team priorities and talent mix driven off that puropse? If you cannot confidently answer yes to all of these questions, it may be time to either create or revisit your team's purpose and priorities. Click below for an exercise you can use to help (re)define your team's mission & purpose. 

Team norms could be considered the biggest "silent killers" of team performance the world over. The unwritten 'rules of the road' can either drive team performance into the stratosphere or - for those teams who choose to ignore them - right into the ditch. Norms are among the most important day-to-day operating features of top performing teams. Left unchecked, however, they have led to many a team's undoing. Click below for an exercise you can use to identify and shape productive team norms. 

The notion of team trust has been talked about alot - both by leaders and authors. But there still remains a significant amount of confusion about what it is exactly and its role in team performance. If you have ever engaged in a team trust-building activity, you've experienced this confusion firsthand. Team trust is not an input to team performance - something you develop separately. Rather team trust is an outcome of team performance over time. Click here for a short article on trust and teamwork.