Simple, Strong Team Ratings - Advanced Teamware's TeamView/360 software - Brief Article

Advanced Teamware president Mike Perrault readily admits that his firm's flagship application, TeamView/360, isn't for the faint of heart. It's only effective when team members are ready to hear honest feedback from other team members on their performance, communications skills and effectiveness at working toward a common goal. The software allows each team member to rate the other members.

Another Advanced Teamware product, TeamWorks/360, focuses on the team as a whole, rather than on individual team members. Each member rates the team's performance, then internal or external customers rate the team's performance.

Potential users should note that Advanced Teamware plans to move away from providing packaged software and eventually will provide these products only over the Internet.

Evaluating Behaviors, Effectiveness

Team members log in to TeamView/360 by entering a group password and an individual password. Instructions are hardly necessary, but the welcome screen provides them anyway.

Once logged in, members are presented with a list of team members and asked to begin the evaluation process by rating themselves on each of 31 behaviors, such as "adapting to change" or "meeting deadlines."

The mechanics are simple. Members simply click on the button corresponding to the number they wish to enter. While it's possible to agonize over a rating for a particular behavior, most team members should be able to complete a self-evaluation in 20 minutes or less.

After submitting their self-evaluations, members are invited to evaluate the other members of the team, one at a time. The software keeps track of who has evaluated whom until all of the evaluations are completed.

The system then produces a 20-plus-page Individual Effectiveness Profile (IEP) for each team member. The IEP explains in conver sational language how the scores were calculated and how to interpret the attached graphs.

A summary graph shows the member how his or her self-rating compares with the views of the other team members and with the overall team average in seven performance areas--problem solving, planning, controlling, managing one's own work, managing relationships with others, leading and communicating.

Subsequent graphs provide additional detail on each of the seven areas. Problem solving, for example, consists of recognizing trends, generating ideas and evaluating and acting on ideas.

In addition to the graphs, the IEP lists the five areas in which the member contributes most to the success of the team and the five in which the member's performance was least effective. Finally, the report guides the member in preparing a personal effectiveness plan.

TeamWorks/360 is similar except that each member completes just one evaluation on the team's performance. The resulting report compares the team's self-perception with customers' overall perception of the team.

TeamView/360 provides an opportunity and a vehicle for individual coaching while TeamWorks/360 leads to group discussion. Experienced users recommend that a trained facilitator help team members interpret the results or facilitate group discussion. About a dozen organizational development specialists have been trained and certified by Advanced Teamware.

Fast and Simple

Frankly, I was surprised that evaluations that were so fast and easy to complete could yield a report as comprehensive and useful as the IEP. The personal effectiveness plan outline is a good reminder of the power of written goals, and the IEP makes planning easier by identifying strengths to polish and weaknesses to improve.

These two packages could use a little tweaking. TeamView/360 currently lacks the ability to capture written comments and neither product integrates coaching information with reports. Coaching information is available in the TeamView manual, but it would be even more helpful if it was immediately available during the reviews, at a time when team members may be most open to assistance.

Perrault says that some customers have requested a "figure skating-style breakout" of scores in each report, so employees can see who rated them and how. Perrault has resisted that enhancement for fear that team members would lose sight of the overall rating and, instead, fret over which of their colleagues gave them a low rating.

Team View/360, TeamWorks/360 and other products from Advanced Teamware appear to be an excellent value, especially for organizations that strive for optimum performance and maintain a climate for open communications. Other tools available from Advanced Teamware include Advanced/360, for organizations that wish to build custom systems, and LeaderView, for enhancing managers' effectiveness.

John Day is a freelance writer based in Decatur, Ga. He contributes regularly to several technology trade publications.

Product Specs

Team View/360 and Team Works/360

ADVANCED TEAMWARE INC.

30423 Canwood St., Suite 135

Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Phone: (818) 707-0779

Fax: (818) 707-1724

www.ateamware.com

PRODUCT USE

TeamView allows each team member to compare self-ratings with teammates' ratings on 31 behaviors. The complementary TeamWorks enables team members to rate team performance on 45 behaviors, then compare team and customer opinions.

EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS

Windows PC and a printer for producing reports.

RELEASE DATE

Internet versions released in January 1999.

PRICING

Teamview/350 costs $200 plus a $50 subscription for each team member. For an additional $15 per team member, Advanced Teamware will collect the evaluation data via the Internet and prepare an electronic file from which reports can be printed at the customer's site. TeamWorks/360 costs $150 plus $45 per evaluation.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group