New Online Tool Helps Leaders Assess the Hidden Drivers of Team Performance

The Team Climate Pulse reveals how curiosity, creativity, and connection shape performance under pressure.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Playfulness Lab, a non-profit focused on high-performance culture and leadership, today announced the launch of the Team Climate Pulse - a fast, free online assessment designed to help leaders identify the invisible factors shaping how their teams perform under pressure.

Rather than measuring engagement or individual traits, the Team Climate Pulse gives leaders a clear read on the climate of their team: the psychological and relational conditions that impact creativity, adaptability, trust, and performance. The assessment focuses on three critical cultural drivers: Curiosity, Creativity, and Connection.

“Exceptional teams don’t just have skills, they have a climate and culture that fosters curiosity, creativity, and connectedness,” said Chris Marshall, founder of The Playfulness Lab and creator of the tool. “These are the core pillars of playfulness, not in the sense of fun for its own sake, but as a serious performance mechanism rooted in human adaptability.”

Drawing on research in behavioural science, organisational psychology, and real-world leadership practice, the Team Climate Pulse is designed to be completed in under two minutes. Respondents receive an instant snapshot of how their team’s culture is tracking in each domain, along with insight into how these dynamics shape long-term performance.

Unlike typical culture surveys, the Team Climate Pulse doesn’t just capture sentiment - it highlights how people are relating, reacting, and responding when pressure is high.

“When playfulness disappears, we can use that as a valuable human signal,” said Marshall. “It’s often a sign that something in the system is overloaded, safety is low, pressure is too high, or creativity is being suppressed. The Team Climate Pulse is designed to help identify where that’s happening, so leaders can respond intentionally.”

Why this matters now

With burnout on the rise, trust declining, and innovation slowing in many organisations, The Playfulness Lab developed this tool in response to a growing leadership need: the ability to see what’s really going on beneath the surface of performance.

Research shows that teams with high psychological safety, relational trust, and creative freedom are more likely to adapt under pressure, solve complex problems, and sustain energy through uncertainty. But those conditions are rarely visible in dashboards or metrics.

“Playfulness is not the opposite of seriousness - it’s the opposite of rigidity,” said Marshall. “When teams lose access to it, performance starts to stall in ways that are hard to diagnose. This pulse check gives leaders a simple way to start seeing their culture more clearly - and acting more deliberately.”

About The Playfulness Lab

The Playfulness Lab is a non-profit research and learning organisation dedicated to helping leaders build exceptional teams in challenging times. Through applied psychology, leadership coaching, and practical tools, the Lab supports organisations to unlock the human capabilities that drive performance -especially under pressure. Founded by behavioural scientist Chris Marshall, The Playfulness Lab’s tools and frameworks are used by leaders, facilitators, and coaches across sectors, from startups to social change networks.

Emma London
The Playfulness Lab
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