How are your teams doing—really?

For most organizations right now, the honest answer is…it’s hard to tell. Engagement is flat or slightly improving. Turnover is below historical norms.

On the surface, things look stable. But stability and thriving are not the same thing. In an environment where expectations are high, change is constant and talent mobility is low, there is too much risk in limiting your view to surface-level metrics.

With only 60% of CEOs rating their CHRO as a highly effective business partner—and nearly half of CHROs saying closing that gap is a top priority—the most strategic HR leaders are asking deeper questions. Not just around how teams feel, but whether they’re genuinely positioned to move the business forward.

What “thriving” really means

Thriving teams are built at the intersection of employee connection and performance.

“We’ve spent more than 20 years studying what connects people to their work, teams and organizations—and we’ve learned that connection and performance are inseparable,” says Anne Maltese, VP of People Insights at Quantum Workplace. “When performance is weak, even the most connected teams lose energy and purpose. When connection is weak, high-performing teams burn out and break down. When both are strong, teams enter a virtuous cycle—one where results and retention sustain each other.”

Yet many organizations treat connection and performance as separate investments—with different workstreams, owners and systems. That separation is exactly what prevents the cycle from taking hold. Leaders must consistently strengthen and synchronize both and deliberately create the conditions for teams to thrive.

“Thriving teams consistently share four core conditions that strengthen both connection and performance,” says Maltese. “They’re aligned, empowered, growing and feel valued.”

That means teams that have:

• Clear priorities and line of sight into strategy
• Voice, authority and confidence to act
• Meaningful development and a visible path forward
• Consistent recognition of contribution and impact

When these conditions are strong, performance and connection compound. When there are gaps, teams are likely operating below their potential.

Where the leverage lies

HR and leadership can define these conditions at the organizational level, but they must be felt at the team level. That makes managers the most practical and essential leverage point.

It’s managers who translate priorities into work, reinforce what gets recognized and shape the quality of performance conversations. Yet they’re often under-equipped for the job. That’s not because they lack ability or commitment, but because they lack context and clarity.

“Most HR teams already have the data that would give managers better context and clarity,” says Maltese. “It’s in your engagement, performance, development, recognition and retention data. But this data usually lives in separate systems that are rarely accessible to managers—consumed by different people on different timelines, with no common thread or purpose. The result is a fragmented view for everyone.”

That’s changing. AI-powered HR tools can now connect key signals across these disparate data sources. They can automatically surface patterns that were impossible to see before—and translate into prioritized, actionable insight for leaders.

The questions that once required weeks of analysis become answerable in minutes:

• Are our managers equipped to align and coach their teams?
• What is the experience like for our top performers?
• Who is at risk of leaving—and why?
• Where is clarity breaking down around strategy, goals and expectations?
• Is effort aligned to business priorities?
• What skills and development do people need to be ready for the future?
• Do we have successors for key roles—and are they actively developing / at risk?

“The answers to these questions create deeper signals that can help move teams from stable to thriving,” says Maltese. “But they’re only visible with connected data. And they’re only impactful when the insight reaches leaders in a timely and actionable way.”

When it does, it changes how leaders lead. Coaching becomes more intentional, decisions become more informed and risks are flagged in time to intervene.

For HR, that shift changes everything—from spending your days chasing data, fielding questions you can't fully answer and reacting to problems you could have seen coming—to being the person in the room who sees around corners.

So: How are your teams doing—really?