Conversation Quality Assessment

Before You Begin

The assessment has 16 questions in two short sections and takes about 5 minutes. For each question, choose how often it happens on your team, from Almost Never to Almost Always. A few things to keep in mind:

Include yourself. When a question says "people on your team," include yourself along with everyone else.
Keep one team in mind. If you lead or belong to more than one team, choose one and answer every question about that team.
Answer based on what your team actually does, not what you wish it did or think it should do.
Don’t overthink it. Go with your first impression. Your instinctive response is usually the most accurate.
There are no right or wrong answers. Honest responses produce the most useful results.

Ready to begin?

Your Results,

The boxes are drawn to scale. The green box is small because productive conversations take a high, consistent standard, and that standard is reachable: teams that work at it move up and to the right.

Your team is in

Your next step:

Your Scores

Want to talk through your results?
Schedule a free results review call at hinkenrenewal.com/schedule-an-assessment-review/

📧 A PDF copy of these results has been sent to your email.

Which box is your team in?

Below is the map of all four boxes and both scores. Your results are highlighted. See what the scores above and below yours look like, and which behaviors will move your team toward Productive Conversations.

Conversation Quality Assessment Scoring Labels

Part 1 The Four Boxes

Your two scores place your team in one of these four boxes on the Conversation Quality Grid. A score of 29 or higher is the "right" side.

What you talk about

Right stuff (29–40)

3. Misdirected Conversations Your team

Observations and interpretations are shared, but with people not involved.

Eroding trust. Constant firefighting.

1. Productive Conversations Your team

Observations and interpretations are shared and tested with the people involved.

Cohesive teamwork. Critical issues addressed.

Wrong stuff (8–28)

4. Destructive Conversations Your team

Leading questions or judgments are shared with people not involved.

Toxic culture. Collapsing performance.

2. Mishandled Conversations Your team

Leading questions or judgments are shared with the people involved.

Interpersonal friction. Poor decision-making.

Wrong person (8–28)

Right person (29–40)

Who you talk to

Part 2 Your Two Scores

Each score falls on a three-level scale, from red (8–20) to orange (21–28) to green (29–40).

1 Who You Talk To (Right Person score)

LowerHigher

Score 8–20 Your team

The Team Talks ABOUT the People Involved

Concerns travel sideways and upward instead of directly. Team members vent to coworkers, take problems about teammates to the leader to solve, and save their real reactions for the meeting after the meeting. The people who most need to hear a concern are often the last to know.

Score 21–28 Your team

The Team Talks with the People Involved, but Selectively

Direct conversations happen, but not reliably. When the stakes are low, people go to each other; when a concern feels risky, especially one about the leader, it tends to go to side conversations instead. No shared standard holds the team to direct conversations.

Score 29–40 Your team

The Team Talks with the People Involved

Concerns go to the people who can act on them. Team members raise issues in the meeting, redirect complaints back to the source, follow through after seeking advice, and hold each other to a clear direct-conversation standard, including with the leader.

2 What You Talk About (Right Stuff score)

LowerHigher

Score 8–20 Your team

The Team Shares Untested Judgments

Conversations run on conclusions. Team members state judgments about each other as facts, ask leading questions to make their point, and act on their conclusions without checking them. Disagreements become contests over who is right.

Score 21–28 Your team

The Team Tests Its Thinking, but Selectively

Team members sometimes describe what they saw and explain their reasoning, but under pressure they slip into judgments and leading questions. Curiosity about other points of view shows up in calm moments and fades when the stakes rise.

Score 29–40 Your team

The Team Shares and Tests Its Thinking

Team members describe what they saw or heard, explain the thinking behind their positions, and test their interpretations with the people involved. They ask to understand other points of view and invite challenge to their own, so disagreements lead to better decisions.