Your Team Development Assessment (TDA) process has three distinct phases:

1. The on-line phase, which requires 15 minutes, on average, although sometimes considerably longer depending on how much text you expand, and the thought you give your explanatory comments.
2. Next, your "Client Program Manager" (CPM) briefs your team's assessment report to your team leader, typically requiring an hour or less.
3. Your team leader then presents and discusses your team's assessment report with team members (allow 90 minutes). This is the most important phase as the team members develop an understanding of how they can collectively enhance their team's performance, including assigning action items, bringing teambuilding seamlessly into their workplace.

In this, the on-line phase, you assess each of the Development’s eight behavioral norms in five steps:

1. You learn why the behavior you are assessing is important.
2. You “Expand” and “Hide” examples of behaviors as you choose.
3. Next, a "standard" shows you what mastery of the behavior looks like.
4. You choose a "radio button," assessing the team’s behavioral norm against that standard.
5. You enter explanatory comments explaining your choice.

After you complete all eight behaviors, a summary screen displays all your choices. You can revisit and change any that you want. You then finish by addressing a few broad questions.

The assessment process aligns each team member's behaviors the way a magnetic field aligns bar magnets. (If you wanted to align small bar magnets, would you prefer to do them one at a time with tweezers, or all at once with a field?) The aligned team members' behaviors combine to form a social "field" that affects the behavior of every person who interacts with the team.

The quantitative results are amazing—the 60% of teams that start in one of the bottom three quintiles enjoy a 5% (on average) performance enhancement with each Team Development Assessment (TDA) repetition. Actually, there are two performance enhancement effects. TDAs enhance each team’s "field," and subtly change each assessment participant’s behaviors. Repetition is the mother of all learning. (You can see Teams' progress graphically displayed in Chapter 5 of How NASA Builds Teams and at www.NASATeambuilding.com.)

We do not provide the data in your team's assessment report to anyone but your team leader, unless we have his or her explicit permission to do otherwise. Moreover, we do not associate your responses with your identity. However, the assessment report will show your teammates whether you completed your assessment, did not complete, or "opted out," including your stated reason for this choice. If you are concerned about the consequences of not completing the assessment, your best option is to go ahead and complete it.

Finally, our system reproduces your comments in the report verbatim. Please think carefully about the effect of your words on your teammates.

These are the eight behavioral norms you assess for Development, and enhance in yourself by completing this assessment.

When you:

1. "Express Authentic Appreciation," you meet peoples' universal need to feel appreciated.
2. "Address Shared Interests," you enhance collaboration and reduce cross-organizational conflict.
3. "Appropriately Include Others," you meet peoples' universal need to feel that they belong,
4. "Keep All Your Agreements," you demonstrate your trustworthiness.
5. "Express Reality Based Optimism," you stimulate creativity.
6. Live "100% Committed," you alter your perception to reveal solutions.
7. "Avoid Blaming or Complaining," you can direct your energy appropriately, and
8. "Clarify Roles, Accountability, and Authority," you provide an essential foundation for high performance and ultimate success.

Note: We also teach participants to master these behaviors in our three-day workshops and chapter-by-chapter in How NASA Builds Teams (Wiley, 2009).

Mother Nature provides four forces that scientists and engineers work within: the Strong, Weak, Gravitational, and Electromagnetic forces. There is a fifth, manmade force that governs human behavior, "team social context." Because this force is manmade, you can both measure it and manage it. Social context aligns team members' behaviors, in analogy with how a magnetic field aligns ferromagnetic materials. Moreover, just as iron filings on a sheet of paper over a bar magnet reveal the "invisible" magnetic field, measuring your behavioral norms diagnoses the "invisible" field of your "team social context." Note: A "team" is a group of people who interact sufficiently to develop "behavioral norms."

The system "times-out" in one hour. If you need an extension, use the "break" button. Also, please use the buttons in the assessment to navigate. Browser buttons will take you to an error page.

To see some sample assessment report products, click here.

When there are fewer than five responses, we do not produce a report.

I, Charlie Pellerin, own this 4-D process and assessment language.