9 Questions to Drive Team Performance Right Now

2 min readJul 5, 2022

Now that we all have been through massive constant changes for several years, I believe the question we must ask ourselves now is no longer “how will we adapt to a new normal?” but instead “how will we create a better normal?”

Below are 9 guiding questions critical to team success — based on my research over 10 years helping organizations thrive in times of constant change and ambiguity. I have used these questions with my clients and they have had a tremendous impact on ensuring we move forward with thoughtfulness, not reaction.

Drive Performance — align on what great performance looks like

How will we drive high performance while incorporating lessons learned for our team during the pandemic?
What are our crucial team moments that matter and must be done in person? What can be done remotely?
How will we measure success? How will we remove proximity bias in assessing success?

Be Inclusive — align on what true inclusion looks like

How do we value visibly and respect differences regardless of where we are physically working?
How will we embrace transparency yet manage conflict, regardless of distance?
How do we offer career development for the team, no matter the distance? What new development is needed?

Mindfully Communicate — — align on what great communication looks like

How will we collaborate effectively across our organization?
What are our hybrid collaboration norms?
Who are our collaboration champions to hold us accountable and assess improvements over time?

Based on your team agreement discussion, you will be able to create team norms that meet the specific appreciation, communication, and collaboration needs of your team.

Norms can come in many forms, but it’s truly a holistic outline of expectations and processes. Ideally, these are questions that you ask of your entire team. That might be in an anonymous survey to encourage candid responses or it could be in the form of a group dialogue that is more of a conversation than a survey. Pay special attention to the questions and weigh them more heavily in the creation of your team norms.

If you want an easy PDF of the questions, download my free Hybrid Work Toolkit below with a Team Checklist, Hybrid Meeting Norms and Collaboration Tool Best Practices.