The assumption in most organisational diagnostics is that you need everyone in a room. Or at least on a call. We've been running async diagnostics since early 2023 and the data suggests that for distributed teams, async often produces better results than synchronous sessions. Here's why.
The honesty problem in live sessions ¶
In a live group session, people self-censor. They watch the room. They adjust their answers based on who's nodding and who's frowning. This is normal human behaviour and it's not a character flaw. But it means the data you get from a live diagnostic session is shaped by the social dynamics of the group, not just by the actual situation. Async writing, done individually and privately, removes most of that pressure.
How the structured prompt format works ¶
We send each team member a set of structured prompts via a shared document they access individually. The prompts are specific: not 'how do you feel about the team?' but 'describe the last time a piece of work got stuck. What happened? Where did it stop moving?' Specific prompts produce specific answers. Specific answers are useful. General answers are not.
The synthesis step ¶
The diagnostic value is in the synthesis. We read all the responses and use an affinity-mapping approach to find patterns: things multiple people mentioned independently, things that appear in one person's account but are conspicuously absent from others, contradictions between how different people describe the same process. The report quotes directly from the responses (anonymised) so the team can see the evidence, not just our interpretation.
When async doesn't work ¶
Async diagnostics require a baseline of psychological safety. If team members don't feel safe being honest in a private written prompt, the responses will be thin and the diagnostic will miss the real issues. We ask about this directly in the intake call. We also don't recommend async for situations where the team is in active conflict: those need a live facilitated process.
Time zones are not the only reason to go async ¶
We originally built the async format for distributed teams, but we've since run it for co-located teams too. The reason: some people think better in writing than in conversation. Some people need time to reflect before they can give an honest answer. The async format serves those people better than a live session, regardless of geography.
The Async Team Diagnostic runs over five working days and requires no meetings. If your team is distributed or stretched thin, it's worth considering. You can find the details on the full list of engagements or start a conversation with us directly.