The Teams Audit - Kevin Barham

Drawing on the experience of scores of team-based companies, this audit gives you a clear picture of your present position on the 'teamworking spectrum'. Use it to identify problems, target future training, develop Action Plans and set goals for individual teams and for your organisation as a whole.

Whether you have a well-established teams framework in your company - or are just starting out - the audit will give you reliable answers to questions like these:

• How many teams - not informal work groups - do we have in the company?

• What kind of teams are they? (Problem-solving teams, process evaluation teams, etc).

• What roles and targets do they have? Do they achieve them?

• Is each one the right kind of team for the job?

• Where else do we need teams? Where would new/additional teams deliver the best results?

• Have we empowered members of staff to play a full role in self-managed teams?

• How well do we support teams via rewards and recognition, IT systems, and training? (For newcomers: Do we have the systems in place to support teams once we introduce them?)

• What are the barriers to effective teamwork in our company? (These can include the culture, other initiatives that have failed, barriers between departments, and many more).

• How good are the skills of team members and leaders? How can they be improved?

• What can we learn from the previous successes and failures of teams in our organisation?

The Teams Audit has 12 detailed and scoreable self-assessment questionnaires as well as checklists, guidelines and framework questions to help you cut out altogether problems associated with:

• Agreeing terms and definitions.

• Developing measures that will work across all departments or core processes.

• Getting the results accepted by all the teams involved.