Great teams don’t just happen. They must be deliberately designed, nurtured, and grown if you want them to succeed. Scientific research estimates that team design accounts for up to 80% of a team’s success. Six specific conditions are present in the most effective teams, and when one or more of these conditions is missing, teams can struggle.
At h3, we offer comprehensive assessments of your teams using the 6 Conditions framework. We analyze the results in detail and provide a thorough debrief to help you understand your teams’ strengths and areas for improvement. Following the assessment, we work closely with your teams to implement strategies that enhance their performance and overall effectiveness. Our goal is to empower your teams to reach their highest potential through targeted interventions and ongoing support.
Background of the 6 Team Conditions
Based on decades of research by top team scholars at Harvard University, 6 Team Conditions is the best scientifically validated model for creating and maintaining successful teams. The framework identifies six areas that predict a team’s effectiveness and performance. When those conditions are present, a team can maximize its effort, skill, and strategy, all of which contribute to team outcomes. The model has been widely implemented on thousands of teams in a diverse range of industries, sectors, and organizational levels with proven success.
As a 6 Teams Conditions certified practitioner, h3 helps leaders bring out the best in their teams through effective team design, teamwork empowerment, and coaching. The principles can be applied to all types of teams, from temporary project teams to the C-suite, from nonprofits and government organizations to for-profit businesses of all sizes. Additionally, the Team Diagnostic Survey, a companion assessment for the 6 Team Conditions, is a powerful tool to quickly determine where an existing team may struggle the most.
As a leader, you can deliberately cultivate the 6 Team Conditions for your team. By intentionally designing (or redesigning) a team with these conditions in mind, you provide a solid foundation for a team to thrive and get results. Partner with h3 to help your team be more collaborative and have a greater impact, leading to greater outcomes and more satisfied stakeholders.
Read on to learn more about the 6 Team Conditions.
The Essentials and Enablers lead to Key Task Processes, which determine team Outcomes.
Essential Conditions
The first three conditions are non-negotiable; without them, teams will struggle to the degree that they may eventually fail.
- Real Team: A Real Team is more than a label; it is a group of people
who identify as a team and must work closely to accomplish their primary work. - Compelling Purpose: TA Compelling Purpose is a statement of what the team exists to accomplish in service of their stakeholders. It captures the team’s unique contribution to the success of the enterprise and the potential for impact. Additionally, the purpose is consequential and challenging enough to motivate the team to give its best effort.
- Right People: The team comprises the smallest configuration of members with the task skills, teamwork skills, and cognitive diversity to achieve the Purpose.
Enabling Conditions
The next three, the Enablers, act as catalysts for teams, helping them achieve desired outcomes more quickly. Leaders who invest time in the Enablers will reap the benefits by creating more self-sufficient, collaborative, and productive teams.
- Work Design: The team’s work design consists of the discrete tasks designed for the team to complete together and an explicit set of norms and work practices that experience has taught will promote the effectiveness of the work.
- Organizational Support: Organizational support for teamwork means that the structures and systems that affect the team promote and enable teamwork rather than creating obstacles to collaboration. This includes information systems, training and education, rewards and recognition and material resources.
- Team Coaching: Whether it is an external professional coach, the leader, or a team member, someone is available to detect problems and provide helpful interventions to the team.
Key Task Processes that Drive Team Effectiveness
When the six conditions are present, teams demonstrate an increase in the following three areas:
- Fostering Effort: Members will work harder toward a shared purpose.
- Crafting Strategy: The quality of the team’s approach to work will improve.
- Leveraging Talent: The team will be able to utilize its full range of capabilities.
The Definition of Team Effectiveness
The six conditions drive key task processes directly impacting the team’s effectiveness. When a leader attends to the six conditions, the following outcomes result:
- Team Growth: The team becomes stronger, more efficient, and productive over time.
- Stakeholder Satisfaction: The team’s work meets or exceeds the needs and expectations of its clients.
- Member Wellbeing: The individual members of the team grow personally and professionally as a result of being on the team, which cultivates a positive culture, engagement, and retention.