9 team KPIs for effective collaboration

Metrics can express the process of change and the state of collaboration in a team or an organisation. Measuring day-to-day operations comes easily to most companies. The human dimension, by contrast, is harder to grasp without closeness to the people involved – even though it co-determines the success of every change.

What matters, therefore, is a holistic view: within a team, all metrics influence one another. We look at nine KPIs spread across three clusters that together cover every level of teamwork.

Metrics for day-to-day operations

Effectiveness is expressed in the ratio between essential and non-essential tasks. Above all, a team should carry out work that is genuinely relevant to reaching its goals.

Communication connects effectiveness and value creation. The content, timing and participants of communication substantially determine operational performance – and every team has its own information needs.

Value creation describes the team's output. Because every team works differently, there is no single uniform metric: a sales team might measure revenue, an IT team completed tickets. One workable route is to govern the measurement through the definition of goals.

Metrics for the social fabric

Psychological safety is a basic precondition for team efficiency – the feeling of being able to speak openly without having to fear negative consequences. It shows in whether mistakes are addressed openly and whether every member feels seen and heard. Trust, a sense of community, the ability to handle conflict and mutual appreciation all feed into it.

Reliability shows in whether deadlines and agreements are kept. A connection to one's own work and the feeling of being able to take responsibility strengthen it. Frederick Herzberg already described a deep-seated need for development: enriched areas of responsibility increase engagement and the quality of work.

Efficacy describes a team's leverage – whether it can complete an assignment successfully. Does it have the necessary resources, capacity and capabilities? The self-efficacy of individual members belongs here too. Teams need a framework for acting independently.

Metrics for making change stick

Resilience is the ability to deal with setbacks and adapt to change. It is closely linked to the culture around mistakes: where people are not allowed to make any, they become rigid – and stress levels rise.

Capacity for reflection is needed to review continuously whether changes still make sense. A team should sit down regularly to talk about its collaboration; the intervals can be measured.

Ability to self-help is the summarising metric of successful team development. If a team is stable and able to resolve internal disruptions on its own, it is independent. The degree of external support is a good indicator of this.

Together, these KPIs give an overview of the degree of change and the quality of collaboration. They do not replace a conversation – but they make visible what is worth talking about. If you would like to develop collaboration in your teams deliberately, talk to us.

References

• Herzberg, F. (2003). One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Harvard Business Review.
• Lencioni, P. M. (2017). Die 5 Dysfunktionen eines Teams. Weinheim: WILEY-VCH.
• re:Work with Google. Guide: Understand team effectiveness.
• Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.
• Ryan, R. & Deci, E. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation. American Psychologist, 55(1).