Skip to main content
Assess the team across ten dimensions.
A structured team assessment built around ten dimensions of effective teamwork. Teams score themselves on each dimension, surface where there is agreement and divergence, and agree on where to focus their collective energy.
A shared, honest picture of how the team is performing across ten dimensions, with 2 to 3 priority areas agreed and carried forward into the Team Action Plan.
Print the canvas large, have sticky notes and pens ready, and if you have scorecard results make them visible and review them in advance for the dimensions with the widest spread. The canvas is a conversation tool covering ten dimensions of team health, and the aim is to build an honest shared picture of where the team stands and agree where to focus.
Frame the session: the canvas is a conversation tool, and the purpose is to build an honest, shared picture of where the team stands and to agree where to focus. Set the tone by making clear that a low score is useful information and nothing to be defensive about.
Ask people to rate the team on each dimension on a one to five scale, scoring the team as it is today. The ten dimensions are clarity and direction, roles and responsibilities, psychological safety, meaning and impact, communication, reliability and accountability, cohesion and belonging, decision making, learning and reflection, and wider collaboration. Give about ten minutes for individual scoring.
Go through each dimension in turn, asking people to share their score and recording each one on the canvas. Note the range and whether there is agreement or significant divergence. Hold back from discussion or debate at this stage and build the complete picture before drawing any conclusions. This phase takes discipline.
Identify the most significant dimensions: consistently low scores, wide spread, or dimensions flagged earlier in the day. Choose two or three for deeper discussion and ask what this looks like in practice, whether someone can give a specific example, what is getting in the way, and what would be different about how you work if this dimension were scoring consistently higher. Hold back from solutions. If the conversation moves towards blame of individuals or other teams, redirect it: what can this team do about that, given what is in our control? Psychological safety and wider collaboration tend to generate the most revealing conversations.
Agree on two or three dimensions to take forward, using a dot vote if there is disagreement. Note the agreed priorities clearly, since they carry directly into the action planning that follows.
Use Team Health Canvas when a team wants an honest, shared picture of how it is performing. The team scores itself across ten dimensions of team health, surfaces where views agree and diverge, and agrees the two or three areas to focus on.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
