EJ Consulting
Team check

Did you hand them a puppy?

Here's what I call the puppy syndrome. You hand someone a project they never asked for. Maybe they wanted a kitten and you gave them a puppy. They'll feed it. They'll keep it alive, because you told them to. But it won't thrive.

Some teams have the opposite problem. Plenty of ideas, plenty of energy, and no direction. That's herding cats, and it ends in death by conversation.

Then there's the team that builds the animal shelter together. Everybody brings a piece of it. Nobody has to be told to care, because it's already theirs.

This check takes about ten minutes. It tells you which team you're running and gives you one place to start on Monday.

  • 15 statements
  • 5 stop-and-write prompts
  • 1 meeting calculator
  • A result to share
Part one

How does your team really run?

Answer for the last three months, the way things were, and skip the way you wish they were. The honest answer is always the useful one.

Part two

What do meetings without an outcome cost you?

A meeting that ends with no decision, no owner and no date will happen again next week. Put your own numbers in. The starting values are examples.

Salary plus benefits. A round guess is fine.
Be honest. Check last week's calendar.
0hours a year in meetings that went nowhere
$0a year in team time
0full-time people, doing nothing else

The math: people × weekly meeting hours × the share with no outcome × 48 working weeks, priced at yearly cost ÷ 2,080 hours.

Your result

Which team are you running?

Team check result
Answer the 15 statements
Your score appears here
Strongest area
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Start with
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Puppy Syndrome Team Check · ericajenkins.com/team-check

Where to next

Meeting Cost CalculatorSee what meetings without a decision cost your team each year.Read the team ownership seriesFive short articles on the Puppy, Herding Cats and the Shelter.All resourcesBack to the full list.Send me a messageTell me which team you’re running.

Two people I learn from. Patrick Lencioni, on trust, healthy conflict and meetings that are worth attending (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Death by Meeting). Kim Scott, on caring about people enough to tell them the truth (Radical Candor). If a statement in this check sounds like them, read the books.

Your answers and notes stay in this browser. When you ask for your full summary, your name, email, scores and meeting numbers are sent to Erica Jenkins Consulting.

Recognize your team in here?

If something in this check hit a nerve, send me a message. Tell me which team you're running and what you'd like to change. I also run this check as a workshop, with your whole team in one room.

Send me a message