What is the Team Barometer?
Process tells you how work moves through a team. The Team Barometer looks at the people doing it. Your team rates seven areas: Trust, Collaboration, Participation, Responsibility, Relationships, Passion and Integrity. Each statement, such as "There is a high level of trust in our team. People can speak their mind freely," is rated on a five-point scale with a plain description at every step. The results open conversations that are hard to start cold, like whether people feel they can speak up and whether the load is shared. Run it every quarter or every few sprints to see how the scores change, and pick one area to work on each round.
Dimensions
Team Health
The core relational and behavioural qualities that determine how effectively your team works together day to day.
Trust
There is a high level of trust in our team. People can speak their mind freely.
- Low trust
- Building trust
- High trust
Collaboration
We work together well on issues that come up and can solve complex problems.
- Working alone
- Some teamwork
- Truly collaborative
Participation
We are engaged and active in our Agile ceremonies and everyone is contributing.
- Disengaged
- Partly engaged
- Fully engaged
Responsibility
We take ownership of our tasks and actions and can depend on each other to get the job done.
- Little ownership
- Growing ownership
- Full accountability
Relationships
We support and boost each other and provide backup and motivation to help each other.
- Disconnected
- Supportive at times
- Strong bonds
Passion
We take pride in our work and are driven by our work and our outcomes.
- Indifferent
- Some drive
- Highly driven
Integrity
We behave in a way that demonstrates good decision-making, communication, and respect.
- Inconsistent
- Mostly consistent
- Highly principled
When to use this health check
- Every quarter or every few sprints, to track how team health changes over time.
- When a team is forming or has changed members and you want a baseline.
- After a stretch of stress, conflict or rushed delivery, to check on relationships and morale.
- Alongside delivery metrics, so the people side of the team gets measured too.
- When the same interpersonal or engagement issues keep coming up in retrospectives.
Tips & tricks
- Keep responses anonymous so people rate trust and integrity honestly.
- Compare results across rounds. One score is a snapshot, and the trend tells you more.
- Discuss the lowest-scoring and most divided areas first, since that's where there's most to improve.
- End each round with one action item, so the team sees the barometer lead to a change.
- Read the results together as a team instead of presenting conclusions from the top.