The 7 Qualities

The first quality of effective organizations is clear alignment. Alignment encompasses many elements such as a shared purpose, strategies, goals, and the communication associated with them. If a team unanimously positions itself on the far right of this scale, it means that everyone is completely clear about what is to be achieved together. Everyone has the same vision and aims their work in exactly the same direction.

The second quality of effective organizations is well-utilized potential. This means that the potentials of the people in the team, as well as other available resources, are fully understood and utilized in a way that contributes fully to the goals. In a team that places itself on the far right of this scale, everyone would agree that they feel their own abilities and potentials are fully recognized and ideally utilized.

The third quality is shared responsibilities. A prerequisite for this quality is that responsibilities are clearly defined and, for example, mapped out in roles. In a team that places itself on the far right of this scale, all responsibilities and expectations are clearly identified and assigned to the individuals who are best suited to fulfill them.

An organization that aims to be effective must ensure that its people are capable of working well. Individual effectiveness exists when all members have the skills and knowledge necessary to work effectively. Therefore, everyone should be capable of organizing themselves, making meaningful decisions independently, and contributing to the overall goals without external support.

Even if each individual works well independently, it does not necessarily make for an effective team. Teams become effective when everyone can communicate effectively with each other and synchronize work results. This includes designing meeting routines so that meetings do not waste time and energy.

The sixth quality refers to teams and entire organizations being capable of evolving from within and adjusting their structure and rules to adapt to changes in their environment. A team that positions itself to the right on this scale is able to adapt quickly and smoothly—continuously and without external support.

The seventh and final quality is closely related to the previous point: In effective organizations, people are able to constantly give each other feedback, learn from it, and moreover, resolve conflicts in such a constructive manner that they emerge stronger from them. Teams that position themselves to the right on this scale would thus state that they are capable of resolving all their conflicts in a way that benefits the team.

• Are we crystal clear in our alignment and does everyone share the same vision of where we are headed?
• Are all potentials known and utilized in a meaningful way?
• Are all responsibilities clearly defined and distributed within the team?
• Are all individuals in the team as effective as they could be?
• Is the collaboration within the team effective, do meetings energize and clarify?
• Does the team itself make adjustments and continuously develop structure and rules?
• Is regular feedback given within the team and are all conflicts resolved constructively?

To assess the team, we need the subjective assessments of team members.

Each member of a team places adhesive dots on the individual sliders to position the team as a whole on each dimension. Sometimes, we also arrange members in the room between the two poles. Often, a clear picture does not emerge because not everyone in the team shares the same view of the current state of the various virtues.

If there are significant differences in assessment – for example, one person finds the alignment crystal clear while others find it completely unclear – it's worthwhile to discuss where these differences originate.

In the next step, it's about developing a desired state picture.

Because for every current state, there's a desired state to be found. Of course, it would be desirable to magically leap to the positive end of the spectrum – in all seven dimensions. Realistically, though, this end should be seen as an ideal goal state that can never be fully reached. Therefore, the question must be: What is the next meaningful evolutionary step (in each of the seven dimensions)? How can we move closer to the ideal goal state with a feasible step?

From there, it's a step-by-step approach towards the desired state picture.