I’ve been in the business of developing teams for a fair number of years now and I am pretty sure I’ve seen most forms of team development, team building and whatever else you want to call it.  But it’s a very true saying that there are many ways to skin a cat (not that I’d recommend this as a past time!).   If I am to learn anything from all these years of experience it is this; just as people are different, so are the ways in which they learn and therefore this suggests that the approach I use to coach, train and develop people should be a range of different styles and approaches.

I have experienced this need in providing a range of different ways to deliver the same learning.  I had the opportunity to do some work for a friend’s client a few years back but unfortunately couldn’t fit it in around other commitments.  I had, however, spent some time with the client in order to understand their need and determine what solution would best suit the need.  The solution was largely about being able to undertake activities, self review and apply the learning in the next situation.  From my point of view the key to the success of this piece of work was not the activities or reviews, or even the application of the learning to the next activity.  It was about having the right facilitator working with the team to drive and challenge them in the right way.

I put together a programme and earmarked an individual I thought would be great in my place.  My friend decided to use somebody else, much to my protest and rationalised explanation.  My concern was that this other person (whom I knew) did not have the right style of facilitation to support the client.  Anyway, long story short, my friend used her anyway and sure enough the client’s feedback was that she wasn’t anything like as challenging as she needed to be and they got little out of the work.

One solution, but two very different styles which would produce two different sets of outcomes.  Which is right?  In reality it is often a judgement call based on experience, understanding of a client and their team and knowing your capabilities.

There are indeed lots of different ways to develop teams with different styles, from outdoor team activities to weekend retreats designed to bring people closer together.  I have seen teams likened to animal types to understand themselves better, drawing rich pictures from their lives, shouting beliefs at the top of their voices to rid themselves of their limited thinking and I’ve even seen them scared witless on the brink of a breakdown in order to better themselves.

The truth is, any one of these things could work if it is the right approach for the right team of individuals.  Invariably, the more extreme the approach the more mixed the results can be based on people’s personal preferences, phobias and levels of comfort (ah the good ole comfort zone!).

So, on to the real subject of this post, Gallup’s Q12.  If you want to develop a great team and you want something which everyone is going to be able to understand, get involved in and make it link to workplace effectiveness, you could do worse than to utilise the Gallup Q12.

Gallup have been in the survey business for many years and are pretty much the leaders at doing this sort of stuff.  My gripe for many years is that most of these employee survey tools are pretty woolly, have lots of influencing factors that limit the accuracy of the results and are hugely open to interpretation.  Therefore it’s an ok picture of the big areas to focus on, but we shouldn’t use the results as a tablet of stone.

However, Q12 survey has been researched and tested with organisations and Gallup have some pretty compelling evidence that suggests this is one survey tool to take note of.  That for me is what makes this a great tool for thinking about your own team’s development.  Gallup have made tangible links to improved financial performance for those organisations that do well in the Q12 areas.  Having now worked with a number of organisations that have or do use Q12 I believe it is a great vehicle for benchmarking your team and focusing development activity on areas that really can make a tangible difference.

So what is the Q12?

Gallup’s Q12 is a set of core statements that, if an organisation works on and does well in, will be really effective in improving performance financially. Below are the 12 statements.

• Do you know what is expected of you at work?
• Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
• At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
• In the last seven days, have your received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
• Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
• At work, do your opinions seem to count?
• Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
• Are your associates (fellow employees) commited to doing quality work?
• Do you have a best friend at work?
• In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
• In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Copyright © 1993-1998 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, re-post, or use the Q12® questions for public or commercial purposes, without the written permission of Gallup, Inc.  Gallup® and Q12® are Trademarks of Gallup, Inc.”

As an example of what Q12 claims, if we take the first statement “Do you know what is expected of you at work?”.  Gallup claim that organisations who ensure people understand not only what they are meant to be doing but also how it fits into the overall goal of the business could expect to see up to a 30% improvement in profitability.  Even if your organisation or department say profitability or effieciency savings of half that amount it’s got to be worth it, hasn’t it?

Gallup’s website has lots on information about how to use the Q12 in an organisation but it basically comes down to this.

• Be open to recieving the feedback
• Use it as a starting point to develop your understanding
• Talk about the results openly
• Engage your team in identifying the things that will improve things
• Create an action plan that dovetails into your business plans
• Remember, it’s tool for improving performance not just creating warm fluffy places to work

Alongside using Q12, you will be able to identify other tools and approaches that can help you tackle areas of concern on the Q12 results but remember to make sure not only the solution is right but that the person working with you is right for you too.

Obviously this is just a short snippet about team development and specifically how Q12 can provide a great insight to your team’s development needs.  It’s not intended to go into Q12 in detail.  If you want to know more about the tool, look at Gallup’s website, there is a whole bunch of information there.  If you want to talk to me about how I’ve used Q12 with other team’s then drop me an e-mail.

Likewise, if you have experience of using Q12, including success or pitfalls then please do post a comment for others.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under Leadership Development, Performance Management, Team Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.