The Circumplex Team Scan (CTS)
Not engagement scores. Not personality types. Observable behaviour that drives performance.
Team culture isn't about values on a wall or what people say in surveys. It's about behavioural norms.The unwritten rules that govern how people actually interact, communicate, and work together.
Measuring the Behavioural Norms That Make or Break Teams
Does your team speak up or stay silent? Challenge ideas or defer to authority? Collaborate openly or protect territory? These behavioural patterns determine whether your team executes brilliantly or stumbles repeatedly.
The Circumplex Team Scan (CTS) makes these invisible norms visible.
The CTS is a scientifically rigorous assessment that measures team behavioural norms across 8 distinct culture styles: Courageous & Confident; Timid & Hesitant; Engaged & Open; Evasive & Guarded; Respectful & Modest; Rude & Combative; Competitive & Pushy and Yielding & Cautious.
The CTS doesn’t just tell you how people feel about your team culture, it also tells you how people actually behave in your team—and how that compares to the team culture you need.
We measure both:
- Current Culture: How people actually behave today.
- Ideal Culture: How people need to behave to support your strategy and values.
The gap between current and ideal becomes your team’s culture change roadmap.
The 8 Team Culture Styles
COURAGEOUS & CONFIDENT
Team members tend to act boldly, decisively, and fearlessly. They are comfortable being assertive and taking charge. This style drives action, decisiveness, and willingness to take risks. Teams high in this style don’t wait for permission—they move.
ENGAGED & OPEN
Team members tend to welcome opportunities to interact and communicate with each other. They are involved and eager to share their perspectives. This style creates energy, idea flow, and psychological safety. People speak up because they know they’ll be heard.
RESPECTFUL & MODEST
Team members tend to support and care for each other. They are mindful not to behave in ways that other members might consider boastful or annoying. This style builds trust and cohesion. People feel valued and supported, not threatened or diminished.
YIELDING & CAUTIOUS
Team members tend to be very conflict-avoidant. They are careful not to say or do anything that might provoke controversy or negative attention. At moderate levels, this creates harmony. At high levels, it creates false consensus and suppressed dissent.
TIMID & HESITANT
Team members tend to anxiously avoid appearing assertive and ambitious. They prefer to remain inconspicuous and follow the lead of others. This style kills initiative and innovation. People wait to be told what to do rather than taking ownership.
EVASIVE & GUARDED
Team members tend to ignore or avoid each other. They may avoid contributing because they doubt their contributions would be positively received. This style creates silos and disengagement. People protect themselves rather than collaborate.
RUDE & COMBATIVE
Team members tend to forcefully struggle among themselves for power and dominance. They sometimes undercut, belittle, and bully each other to get their way. This style destroys trust and psychological safety. People spend energy on politics rather than performance.
COMPETITIVE & PUSHY
Team members tend to compete with each other for attention and prestige. They strive for opportunities to distinguish themselves and advance their own careers. At moderate levels, this drives excellence. At high levels, it creates toxic internal competition.
SIGNS YOUR TEAM MIGHT BENEFIT FROM THE CIRCUMPLEX TEAM SCAN (CTS)
| You're building a new team | New teams need to establish productive behavioral norms from day one. The CTS helps you define and embed the culture you want before bad habits form. |
| Team performance is inconsistent | The team has talent but results are unpredictable. Behavioral norms are likely misaligned with what high performance requires. |
| You're addressing team dysfunction | Conflict, silos, lack of trust, poor communication—these are symptoms of problematic behavioral norms. The CTS diagnoses the root cause. |
| You've changed team composition | New members, departures, reorganisation—team culture gets disrupted. The CTS helps you reset and realign behavioral norms. |
| You're scaling the team | As teams grow, informal norms that worked at 5 people break down at 15. The CTS helps you intentionally design culture for scale. |
| Strategy execution is failing | Your strategy is sound but the team can't execute. Behavioral norms (risk aversion, conflict avoidance, lack of accountability) are the blockers. |
| You want to shift from good to great | The team is functional but not exceptional. The CTS reveals which behavioral shifts would unlock higher performance. |
| You're merging teams | Two teams with different cultures need to integrate. The CTS makes both cultures visible so you can intentionally design the new culture. |
| You need baseline data for culture change | You're investing in team development and need to measure whether behavioral norms are actually shifting over time. |
HOW IT WORKS
1. Define Scope and Approach
- We work with you to determine:
- Which team(s) will participate (intact teams only—people who work together regularly)
- Deployment method: Real-time workshop or online collection
- Timeline and logistics
- How results will be used (diagnosis, action planning, ongoing measurement)
THE CHALLENGE
Before you can change your culture, you need to know which behaviours to target
WHAT YOU'LL MASTER
- Map reality vs values with the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS).
- Identify unspoken behavioural norms.
- Surface behaviours blocking the desired culture.
- Understand why cultural inertia persists.
- Build a data-driven culture shift strategy.
2. Deploy the Survey
We have two deployment options:
Option A: Real-Time Workshop Collection
- Team completes surveys during a facilitated Team Culture Workshop
- Results displayed immediately for live discussion
- Enables real-time action planning while energy is high
- Ideal for teams ready to act on insights immediately
Option B: Online Collection
- Email notification sent to team members
- 2-3 week completion window
- Results analyzed and reported after close
- Ideal for distributed teams or when scheduling a workshop is difficult
The Survey:
- Team members complete the survey:
- 64 items measuring team behavioural norms across 8 culture styles
- Takes approximately 10 minutes per survey
- Two surveys: Current team culture + Ideal team culture
- Can be completed via smartphone, tablet, or laptop
- Anonymous individual responses (results are aggregated at team level)
THE CHALLENGE
Before you can change your culture, you need to know which behaviours to target
WHAT YOU'LL MASTER
- Map reality vs values with the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS).
- Identify unspoken behavioural norms.
- Surface behaviours blocking the desired culture.
- Understand why cultural inertia persists.
- Build a data-driven culture shift strategy.
3. Analyse the Data
- We analyse results to identify:
- Current culture profile: Which behavioural norms dominate this team?
- Ideal culture profile: What culture does the team aspire to?
- Culture gap analysis: Which specific behaviours need to shift?
- Culture style balance: Are healthy styles strong enough? Are problematic styles too dominant?
- Team culture outcomes: How do behavioural norms impact trust, psychological safety, innovation, accountability, etc.?
- Benchmark comparison: How does this team compare to high-performing teams?
THE CHALLENGE
Before you can change your culture, you need to know which behaviours to target
WHAT YOU'LL MASTER
- Map reality vs values with the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS).
- Identify unspoken behavioural norms.
- Surface behaviours blocking the desired culture.
- Understand why cultural inertia persists.
- Build a data-driven culture shift strategy.
4. Debrief and Interpretation
- We facilitate a team debrief session where:
- Present the current vs. ideal culture circumplex visually
- Explore what the data means: "This is how we actually behave"
- Discuss the gap: "This is how we want to behave"
- Examine the 12 culture outcome measures
- Identify which behavioural norms are helping vs. hindering performance
- Create shared language around team culture
- Surface underlying beliefs and assumptions driving current norms
THE CHALLENGE
Before you can change your culture, you need to know which behaviours to target
WHAT YOU'LL MASTER
- Map reality vs values with the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS).
- Identify unspoken behavioural norms.
- Surface behaviours blocking the desired culture.
- Understand why cultural inertia persists.
- Build a data-driven culture shift strategy.
5. Action Planning
- Based on the gap analysis, we help the team:
- Prioritise which behavioural norms to shift (you can't change everything at once)
- Define specific, observable behavioural commitments
- Identify situations where new norms will be practiced
- Establish team agreements and accountability mechanisms
- Plan how to reinforce new norms and address violations
- Set milestones for team culture change
THE CHALLENGE
Before you can change your culture, you need to know which behaviours to target
WHAT YOU'LL MASTER
- Map reality vs values with the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS).
- Identify unspoken behavioural norms.
- Surface behaviours blocking the desired culture.
- Understand why cultural inertia persists.
- Build a data-driven culture shift strategy.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Comprehensive Team Culture Report
Detailed report showing current team culture, ideal team culture, and gap analysis across all 8 culture styles.
Visual Circumplex Profile
Intuitive visual map showing your team’s behavioural norms on the circumplex, making complex data immediately understandable.
Current vs. Ideal Culture Comparison
Side-by-side visualisation of where your team is vs. where it wants to be, revealing specific behavioral gaps.
Culture Gap Analysis
Ranked list of culture styles showing the biggest gaps between current and ideal, prioritising where to focus culture change efforts.
12 Team Culture Outcome Measures
Assessment of how behavioural norms impact critical outcomes like trust, psychological safety, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and more.
Benchmark Comparison
See how your team’s culture compares to Australian organisations, providing context for your results.
Facilitated Team Debrief
Session where we help the team interpret results, discuss implications, and create shared understanding of culture dynamics.
Action Planning Workshop
Structured session to translate insights into specific behavioural commitments and accountability mechanisms.
Team Culture Playbook
Documentation of agreed-upon behavioural norms, team commitments, and how the team will hold each other accountable.
Follow-Up Measurement Plan
Strategy for re-assessing culture over time to track whether behavioural norms are actually shifting.
Who is this for?
The Circumplex Team Scan (CTS) is designed for:
Intact Teams
People who work together regularly and have established (or are establishing) behavioural norms. Not for groups that only meet occasionally.
Leadership Teams
Executive teams and senior leadership teams where behavioural norms cascade throughout the organisation.
High-Stakes Project Teams
Teams working on critical initiatives where culture directly impacts success or failure.
Newly Formed Teams
Teams that need to intentionally design productive behavioural norms from the start rather than letting them form accidentally.
Dysfunctional Teams
Teams struggling with conflict, silos, lack of trust, or poor communication. Where behavioural norms are clearly problematic.
High-Performing Teams Seeking Excellence
Teams that are good but want to be great and looking for the behavioural edge that separates good from exceptional.
Teams Undergoing Change
Teams experiencing reorganisation, new leadership, membership changes, or strategic shifts that disrupt existing norms.
Cross-Functional Teams
Teams bringing together people from different functions who need to align on how they’ll work together.
Distributed or Hybrid Teams
Teams where physical distance makes behavioural norms harder to establish and maintain.
WHAT MAKES THE CIRCUMPLEX TEAM SCAN (CTS) DIFFERENT
| Behavioural Focus, Not Attitudes | The CTS measures observable behavioral norms, not how people feel. You can't manage feelings. You can manage behavior. |
| Current AND Ideal Culture | Most tools only measure current state. The CTS also captures ideal state, revealing exactly where the gap is and what needs to change. |
| Scientifically Validated | Based on decades of organisational psychology research on the Interpersonal Circumplex model applied to team dynamics. |
| Comprehensive Coverage | Measures the full spectrum of team behavioural norms across 8 styles, capturing both constructive and problematic patterns. |
| Visual and Intuitive | The circumplex visual makes complex team dynamics easy to understand and discuss. Teams immediately "get it." |
| Actionable | The behavioural specificity makes it clear what to do differently. You're not left with vague recommendations like "improve communication". You will know exactly which behaviours to shift. |
| Real-Time or Online Deployment | Flexibility to run it live during a workshop for immediate action, or deploy online for distributed teams. |
| Benchmarked | Compare your team's culture to Australian organisations to understand whether your norms are typical or outliers. |
| Outcome-Linked | The 12 culture outcome measures show how behavioural norms impact trust, psychological safety, innovation, and other critical team dynamics. |
How This Integrates with Our Programs
The Circumplex Team Scan (CTS) is used in a range of our programs and solutions.
High-Performance Team Culture Sprint
The CTS provides the diagnostic foundation for our 4-week team transformation program, showing us exactly which behavioural norms need to shift.
Team Dynamics Assessment
The CTS is one component of a comprehensive team diagnostic that also includes individual assessments and team process analysis.
Ongoing Culture Partnership
We use the CTS at regular intervals (every 6-12 months) to track whether team culture is evolving as intended.
Leadership Team Development
For executive teams and senior leadership teams, the CTS reveals the behavioural norms that cascade throughout the organisation.
A Standalone Snapshot
If you just need team culture assessment without a broader program, we can administer the CTS with debrief and action planning as a standalone engagement.
