TDS
Team resilience diagnostics Team Diagnostic Survey · 6 Conditions Framework

Does your team work together — or is everyone on their own?

TDS (Team Diagnostic Survey) is a scientifically validated instrument for diagnosing team effectiveness, developed by Hackman, Wageman & Lehman (Harvard). It measures the 6 conditions that explain up to 80% of a team's effectiveness. Used with management teams, top teams and project groups. Available in Russian.

🔬Harvard Business School
📊321 teams · 2,474 participants
20 minutes for the questionnaire
🇷🇺Adapted for the region
Do you recognise your team?

A «team» only on paper — people work in parallel with no real interdependence

There are plans but no results — meetings happen, agreements are not kept

The leader is the bottleneck — everyone waits for decisions from above, the team does not self-manage

People leave — key employees burn out or find somewhere else, the roster is unstable

«We have no shared purpose» — everyone understands the objective differently, decisions take forever

The TDS report is only provided with a debrief — either individually for the leader or as a team session. Diagnostic data without professional interpretation produces no developmental effect: that is a principle built in by the authors of the method.

Harvard
Hackman & Wageman, 2002–2008
20 min
to complete the questionnaire
27 pp.
team report with recommendations
321
teams in the validation sample
80%
of effectiveness is explained by the model's 6 conditions
Who it is for

When team diagnostics are needed

Diagnostics give you data where before there was only a feeling that «something is off».

Need to justify investment in development?

HR or L&D need data for the leadership: what exactly to develop, why, and how to measure progress.

TDS gives you a baseline and metrics for assessing change in 6–12 months.

Do results collapse under pressure?

In calm times everything is fine, but under stress or change the team falls apart. You need to understand why.

A team's resilience is determined by conditions, not by people's characters.

Building a team from scratch?

You are creating a project group or restructuring a department. You want to set the right conditions from the start rather than fixing them later.

A Team Launch based on TDS — the right start from the first meeting.

Turnover, burnout, conflict?

People are leaving or demotivated. You want to understand whether this is a problem with the people, the leadership or the system they work in.

More often than not the cause is in the conditions, not the people.

A new leader has taken over the team?

You need to understand quickly what you have inherited: what conditions exist, where the gaps are, what to change first.

TDS is an objective snapshot in 20 minutes instead of 3 months of observation.

Has the team stopped growing in effectiveness?

You have worked together for a year or two, but results are not improving. Meetings happen, decisions are made, but something is holding you back.

TDS will show whether the problem is in the processes, the structure or the external context.

Methodology

The 6 conditions of team effectiveness

The Hackman & Wageman model is the only instrument with proven predictive validity, built on cause-and-effect logic.

Most team problems have a systemic cause. Conflict, low engagement, poor decisions — these are symptoms. The cause is the absence of one or more of the six conditions.

The conditions form a chronological sequence: first the Essentials (the foundation), then the Enablers (the accelerators). You cannot skip ahead.

The six conditions explain three processes (effort, strategy, talent), which in turn determine three criteria of effectiveness.

1 Essential 1
Real Team · Real Team

Clear boundaries (who is on the team), interdependence in the work, a stable roster. Most «teams» are groups of people working in parallel.

⚠ Warning sign: different people at every meeting, no clarity about who is on the team, work that does not require interaction.
2 Essential 2
Compelling Purpose · Compelling Purpose

A purpose that is clear, challenging and consequential. The leader sets the WHAT and leaves the HOW to the team. Without it there is neither motivation nor strategy.

⚠ Warning sign: different people describe the team's purpose differently, the purpose does not inspire, micromanagement.
3 Essential 3
Right People · Right People

The right skills including teamwork, the right diversity. A star performer who «holds the team hostage» is a classic problem.

⚠ Warning sign: people assigned by job title rather than by task, a toxic «indispensable» person.
4 Enabler 4
Sound Structure · Sound Structure

Team size (the smaller the better), task design (autonomy + feedback), clear norms of conduct. Oversized teams are a common problem.

⚠ Warning sign: more than 7–8 people, no clear norms of interaction, a task that does not require real teamwork.
5 Enabler 5
Supportive Context · Supportive Context

Rewards for team results, access to information, training, resources. Most HR systems are tuned to individual results.

⚠ Warning sign: bonuses are individual only, the team does not get the data it needs, no training budget.
6 Enabler 6
Team Coaching · Team Coaching

The availability and quality of coaching — from the leader, team members or an external specialist. Coaching only works when the first five conditions are strong.

⚠ Warning sign: the leader resolves conflicts instead of clarifying goals, coaching is seen as something «for problem teams».
Process

How the diagnostics work

From launch to concrete team agreements — 2–3 weeks.

📝
Questionnaire
Every team member completes it online in 20 minutes.
📊
Report
A 27-page team profile with a colour map.
🧭
Analysis
Interpreting the results with a facilitator.
💬
Debrief
A session with the team: discussion, insights, causes.
🎯
Plan
Concrete agreements on what to change and how.
What you get in the report

27 pages — not a description of the team, but answers to the questions you have long wanted to ask

Why is the team ineffective when the people are professionals?

The colour map of the 6 conditions shows exactly where the systemic cause sits: purpose, composition, structure, context or coaching.

Does everyone on the team understand the purpose the same way?

Each participant describes the purpose in their own words. The report shows whether 11 people give 11 different versions or one shared one.

Where do people think alike and where do they diverge?

The spread of opinion on each of the 6 conditions shows where agreement is simulated and where the contradiction is real.

Do people say what they think, or stay quiet?

The psychological safety scale (Edmondson). Often the most painful result and the most important one for how the team holds together.

Is the leader managing the team or micromanaging it?

Data on the leader's coaching focus and style: what helps the team and what holds back its independence and autonomy.

What do the participants themselves want to change?

Open responses: what to keep, what to change. The team's voice — anonymous, unfiltered by HR.

Regional context 2026

Why team resilience matters right now

Teams in the region face specific challenges that Western research does not cover.

Low psychological safety

People do not say what they think — especially under authoritarian leadership. The diagnostics include the Edmondson scale, and this is often where the most painful result sits.

Measured separately
A culture of individualism

A high power distance index, team bonuses are rare, «why should I help others». TDS shows how far the organisational context actually supports real teamwork.

A systemic HR problem
Unstable goals from above

Strategy changes every 3 months. The Ends vs Means matrix shows whether the team has its own compass or depends entirely on directives.

The key question of autonomy
An unstable roster

Relocations, job changes, burnout — teams keep losing people. Stability of membership becomes a critical condition, and the TDS measures it explicitly.

Relevant for 70%+ of teams
Two versions of the instrument

The original EN and the Russian adaptation

The choice of version depends on the team's language and the diagnostic objectives. The price is the same.

🇷🇺 Russian
Team resilience diagnostics

The Russian-language adaptation. It reflects the specifics of teams in the region and the 2024–2026 context.

Questions in Russian, adapted to business specifics
The full 27-page report in English
For Russian-speaking and multinational teams and groups
The Psychological Safety scale (Edmondson) is included

Developed on the basis of years of team diagnostics practice.

🇬🇧 English original
Team Diagnostic Survey™

The original validated instrument by Wageman, Hackman & Lehman. For English-speaking teams and international projects.

The original items, psychometrically verified
The full 27-page report in English
For international projects and multinational teams
The Psychological Safety scale (Edmondson) is included

Requires practitioner certification. Psychometric is an authorised user of the instrument.

Packages and pricing

Choose a format

All packages include the questionnaire and the report. The difference is in how deeply you work with the team afterwards.

Prices are per team, not per participant. For several teams at once we quote individually. Travel to the regions and international projects are on request. All packages are available in EN and RU versions at the same price.

Basic
Report only
Diagnostics + a leader briefing.
150 000 ₽
per team · EN or RU version
An online questionnaire for the whole team (EN or RU)
The full 27-page team report
The Psychological Safety scale (Edmondson)
60 min: reviewing the report with the team leader
Recommendations for each of the 6 conditions
Leader briefing, 1 hour · online or in person
Recommended
Extended
Report + debrief
Diagnostics + a 4-hour team session.
220 000 ₽
per team · EN or RU version
Everything in the «Report only» package
A 3-hour team debrief session
Reviewing the results with the team
Working on 2–3 priority conditions
Concrete agreements and a change plan
Facilitation by a certified TDS practitioner
Leader briefing 1 h + team session 3 h
Developmental
Report + strategy session
Diagnostics + a full-day team session.
380 000 ₽
per team · EN or RU version
Everything in the «Report + debrief» package
A full-day strategy session, 6–8 hours
Deep work on every problematic condition
Clarifying the team's purpose and developing norms
A detailed change plan for 3–6 months
6–8 hours, one to one
The science

Why TDS is not just a questionnaire

TDS is one of the few team instruments published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and validated on real teams across industries. It measures what actually drives effectiveness — not what intuitively seems important to managers.

Harvard
Hackman, Wageman, Lehman · 2002–2008
2 474
participants in the Wageman et al. study
321
teams in the validation sample
80%
of the variance in effectiveness is explained by the 6 conditions
Often taken together

Team diagnostics + what else completes the picture

TDS shows how the system works. Other instruments add the context of the people and the leadership.

TDS+RU
TDS + the Russian adaptation

The extended version of the diagnostics includes questions specific to the regional context: the stability of goals from above, informal structures of influence, and willingness to speak frankly with the leadership.

Learn more →
TDS+BASE
PRO
TDS + BASE!PRO

TDS shows how the team works as a system. BASE!PRO shows how each person in it works — working styles, preferences, where friction comes from. Together: you see not only what is broken but who contributes what to it.

Include it in the diagnostics →
TDS+PCM
TDS + PCM®

TDS diagnoses the conditions for effectiveness. PCM® explains each person's communication patterns and motivation. Together: you understand not only what is broken in the system but why people behave the way they do inside it.

Learn about PCM® →
TDS+H
TDS + Hogan Assessments®

TDS shows how the team works as a system. Hogan shows who these people are — their potential, risks under pressure, values. Together: a complete picture of why the system works the way it does. You see the link between composition and dynamics.

Learn about Hogan →
Who runs it

Certified TDS practitioner

Evgenia Chertarinskaya
Evgenia Chertarinskaya
Team coach · OKR · Agile
TDS Certified Hogan PCM® OKR Coach Agile

I specialise in diagnosing and developing management and top teams. I run TDS diagnostics with a debrief, team sessions for launching and relaunching teams, and support teams through transformations.

Certified in the 6 Team Conditions methodology (Ruth Wageman, Harvard). I also work with teams through Hogan (personality in a team), PCM® (communication and motivation), OKR and Agile frameworks for building an operating rhythm.

65+
team diagnostics delivered
8 years
working with management teams
Top 50
companies among our clients
Harvard
certification in the 6 Team Conditions
FAQ

Frequently asked questions about the Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS)

For companies

Diagnostics for several teams or a tender

If you need to diagnose several teams, run a tender or obtain a proposal for budget approval — we will prepare everything required.

A proposal describing the methodology, instruments, process and cost
A calculation for the specific number of teams and participants
Contract, invoice and closing documents (IE Chertarinskaya E.A.)
A comparative analysis of several teams — on request
We reply within one business day
Request a proposal

Fill this in and we will prepare it within one business day