The Team Leader Survey provides leaders or potential leaders of self-managing teams with the opportunity to gain a clear understanding of their skill level in interacting with their teams. The Survey is a 360° feedback tool. That is, leaders not only evaluate themselves but may also receive feedback from the team members they lead, their peers, and/or their managers.
Leaders will learn useful information about themselves, recognize some of their strengths, identify some areas they want to change, and commit to specific action plans to aid in their development. In addition, the entire survey process can open the lines of communication between the leader and others in the organization.
Development
The Team Leader Survey was developed through research with self-managing team leaders. A job analysis provided the starting point for the project. The research was conducted with a manufacturing organization in the Southwestern United States. The leaders participating in the project were the equivalent of middle managers and first-level supervisors in traditional organizations.
Participants in the project identified the most critical leadership components and rated them on several dimensions. Then additional research was conducted to broaden that analysis to various industries and regions of the country. Over 100 individuals from diverse industries and backgrounds analyzed the identified skills and suggested new skills.
