Throughout my career I’ve run lots of team-building workshops.
One of the biggest challenges has been to get team members to open up about all the different dimensions that go into making a successful team.
I’ve definitely made some team-building mistakes along my journey. But they turned out to be valuable lessons.
So today, I’ll tell you how I help teams do an in-depth analysis of themselves.
And maybe my lessons can help you have more success with building stronger teams.
Here's how the Team Dimensions Analysis works, step by step:
Step 1 - Hand out the 9 Dimensions worksheet
Give each team member a copy of the 9 Dimensions worksheet and a sheet of dot stickers (with red, green, yellow and blue dots).
You can download a copy of the worksheet below or create your own.
The 9 dimensions are:
- Results
- Communication (internal & external)
- Energy
- Productivity
- Quality
- Relationships (internal & external)
- Trust (internal)
- Processes
- Enjoyment
Step 2 - Each team member completes the worksheet with their current perception
Ask them to spend a few minutes (max 5) thinking about their current status for each dimension in the grid.
This is thinking only at this stage—no talking with others or placing the dots yet. You don’t want them to form a consensus at this stage.
After the thinking time, each team member places coloured dots on each of the 9 dimensions.
Only give them two minutes. Tell them, “Just go with your gut.”
- Green Dot = We are excellent at this!
- Yellow Dot = We need to work on this a little.
- Red Dot = We need to work on this a lot!
- Blue Dot = This is not a priority right now.
You can download this worksheet for free below...
Step 3 - Team members share their perception
Ask each team member to share one dimension they put a green dot, one that they put a yellow and one a red dot.
Give each person 2 minutes to share (allow them to disclose at their own comfort level).
Step 4 - Plenary group discussion (20-30 minutes)
This is the part where the magic happens, so leave plenty of time for it.
Use these questions to spark a discussion to see where the consensus and disagreements lie:
- Which dimensions are we most in agreement about?
- Which dimensions do we have variation in our perspectives?
- Which yellow and red areas do we need to improve the most?
- What can we do to improve our yellow and red areas?
I love this workshop because your team members can decide how much they're comfortable sharing.
It doesn’t matter how much they open up; it's a surefire way for the team to gain insight into each other and better understand the current state of play.
Plus, it's super adaptable since you can tweak the 9 dimensions to fit your unique group and situation.
For example, if you know the team is producing great quality work but some tricky internal politics are holding them back, swap out the Quality dimension for Politics. That will make sure it’s on the agenda.
By using this workshop, I never have to think long and hard about which areas a team needs to work on to improve.
Instead, it becomes a simple process of moving them from an underperforming team → knocking it out of the park.
Well, that’s it for today.
I hope you enjoyed it.