Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • What are the four dimensions of team success?

    Responsive: How your team receives feedback, if they are open to different ideas, and how they look to their colleagues for suggestions.

    Supportive: How your team promotes their colleagues ideas, assists with their goals, and works towards collaboration.

    Adaptive: How your team changes as a way to increase their impact on the overall organization.

    Productive: How effective your team is in achieving the goals set forth from the organization and/or external milestones.

    What behaviors does Octahedron assess?
    Each dimension has several unique characteristics that successful teams exhibit. Some behaviors Octahedron measures includes submissiveness, micromanagement, opposition, defensiveness, authority, rigidity, apathy, disagreement and others.

    How do you calculate team assessment results?
    Octahedron’s research-backed, proprietary algorithm determines where your team falls within each of the four dimensions of team success. Activities are prescribed for the behaviors that require immediate attention.

    What’s the science behind Octahedron?
    The Octahedron team spent over three years reviewing concepts, studies and the offerings of how to best assess teams without the high costs of hiring an outside consultant or focusing on individual assessments that do not take the entirety of the team into account. This research led Octahedron to focus on cognitive diversity (thinking differently) and psychological safety (speaking up). We mapped four dimensions to these focus areas and used additional factors based on our assessment questions (i.e. behaviors, assumptions, willingness, etc). Assessment answers relate to an exercise that addresses the specific organizational challenges. Through constant testing and updates, the Octahedron model enables teams to truly work together in a greater capacity than they thought possible. Read more on the Research page.

    What’s included in the free trial?
    The free trial enables your team to take the assessment and see where they place in each of the four dimensions of team success. The free trial includes one team assessment, team results and team report. The four prescribed activities and four facilitator guides are not included with the free trial.

  • What defines a team?
    A team is a group of people you work with. Your team could be those that report to the same manager, on the same project or in the same department. Teams come in all shapes and sizes. In Octahedron, you define your team. Your team can be any size to take an assessment. When completing prescribed activities, we recommend a team size of 15 but no less than 7.

    What type of team is best suited for Octahedron?
    Octahedron is designed for teams that have established working relationships and shared goals. It is ideal for both full-time teams, such as project teams and teams who report to the same manager, as well as working committees that collaborate over an extended period.

    How long should my team be working together before taking the assessment?

    • Full-time teams: At least 3 months together ensures team members have established some level of familiarity, allowing them to engage meaningfully in the process

    • Working committees or cross-functional groups: At least 6 months, as these teams often have looser structures and may need more time to develop working dynamics

    Why is this timeframe important?
    Octahedron works best when team members:

    • Have built a baseline level of trust and familiarity

    • Have a better understating of each other’s working styles and communication patterns

    • Are working together on a daily basis, rather than on short-term or ad-hoc projects

    Can newly formed teams use Octahedron?
    While it’s possible, the impact is greater for teams that have already experienced challenges and successes together. If your team is newly formed, consider using Octahedron as a tool to accelerate team cohesion and alignment but expect different outcomes than a more established group.

    What if my team is a mix of long-term and new members?
    Octahedron can be a valuable tool for integration, helping newer team members adapt while allowing experienced members to refine collaboration processes.

  • How long does it take to complete an assessment?
    It takes ~3 minutes to answer the 24 assessment questions.

    Are the questions always displayed in the same order?
    No. Questions are randomly ordered every time someone takes an assessment. This is done to ensure data integrity and reduce anomalies in data due to survey fatigue.

    How are the scores in the assessment results calculated?
    Octahedron’s research-backed, proprietary algorithm determines where your team falls within each of the four dimensions of team success. Each dimension has multiple behaviors associated with it. Activities are prescribed for the behaviors that require immediate attention.

    What are the zones at the bottom of each chart?
    The Danger Zone, Comfort Zone and Growth Zone are areas that indicate where team responses lie on the successful team range. Most teams are somewhere in the Comfort Zone, where things could be both better and worse. The Danger Zone indicates an area for a team to address immediately. The Growth Zone exhibits teams with high psychological safety and cognitive diversity but with an opportunity to improve.

    What is a good score for my team?
    Team success is always a work in progress. It can take time for your team to move towards the Growth Zone. Your team’s goal is to score on the high end of the Growth Zone in each of the four dimensions.

    What is an Executive Report?
    The Executive Report is a comparison of the last two assessments your team takes. Once your team has gone through four months of exercises and takes the post assessment, the Executive Report compares the results and shows where your team scored from the previous assessment.

    The dimension results charts say Response 1, Response 2, etc. Is Response 1 on the Productive Dimension Results chart the same person as Response 1 for Varying Dimension Results?
    No. Responses are anonymous and randomized to keep focus on the team average. The responses in the charts are mixed so that, for example, Response 1 on one dimension chart is a different person than Response 1 on other dimension charts. This helps avoid a situation where someone may try to deduce who said what by comparing charts.

  • Who can identify my responses?
    Nobody. If you complete an assessment, all responses are anonymous. This is done intentionally to provide the utmost security. Anonymous assessments increase honest answers by 75% and is an example of high psychological safety. Octahedron does not store or capture any personally identifiable information (PII) related to assessment results.

    What information is stored when someone completes an assessment?
    Each assessment has a unique code that allows your team to take the assessment anonymously. The only assessment information Octahedron captures are responses to the assessment questions, a timestamp of when the assessment was completed, and the assessment code to help group team responses. No names, email addresses or other personal information are captured. It is fully anonymous.