team-health-check

Team Health Check Skill

This skill produces a structured team health assessment inspired by Spotify's health check model and extended with engineering, product, and cross-functional team dimensions. Output can be used as a facilitation guide for a live session or as an async survey-and-report format.

Required Inputs

Ask the user for these if not provided:

• Team name and function (engineering squad, product team, sales pod, etc.)
• Team size and composition (how many people, what roles)
• Format — facilitated live session or async survey + report?
• Context — why are you running this now? (new team / ongoing ritual / post-incident / low morale signal)
• Any known issues — anything the facilitator knows going in that will colour the results?

Output Structure

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Team Health Check: [Team Name]

Date: [Date] Facilitated by: [Name or role] Team size: [X people] Format: [Live session (60 min) / Async survey + report] Cycle: [One-off / Quarterly / Monthly]

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Part 1: Facilitation Guide (Live Session)

Use this guide to run the session in 60 minutes.

Session structure

Time	Activity	Owner
0–5 min	Framing and ground rules	Facilitator
5–40 min	Card voting — 7 dimensions, 5 min each	Full team
40–50 min	Top 3 themes discussion	Full team
50–58 min	Actions and owners	Team lead
58–60 min	Close and next date	Facilitator

Ground rules (read at start)

• This is not a performance review — there are no wrong answers
• We're assessing the team, not individuals — speak about "we" not "they"
• What's said here stays here — results shared as aggregated themes, not attributed to individuals
• The goal is one or two actionable improvements, not a long list

Voting mechanic

For each dimension, each team member votes with one of three cards:

• 🟢 Green — working well, we're proud of this
• 🟡 Amber — some things work, but there are issues worth discussing
• 🔴 Red — we have a real problem here that's slowing us down

After voting, the team discusses: what drove the votes? What would make this Green?

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Part 2: Health Dimensions

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Dimension 1: Delivering Value

Are we shipping things that matter, at the pace we should?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
We ship work that creates real value for our users	How do we know our output is valuable? When did we last talk to a user?
Our pace of delivery feels healthy and sustainable	Are we consistently shipping? Or do we have long dry spells?
We have clarity on what "done" looks like	Do we have a shared definition of ready and done?
We celebrate shipping, not just building	Do we acknowledge completed work, or does it just disappear into the backlog?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Dimension 2: Easy to Release

Is releasing software (or our work) smooth and low-risk?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
We can release whenever we choose, without anxiety	What does a release feel like? Smooth or stressful?
Our deployment process is automated and reliable	How much manual work does a release involve?
We have confidence in our test coverage	Do we catch bugs before users do?
Rollback is fast and rehearsed	Have we ever rolled back? How long did it take?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Dimension 3: Fun & Morale

Do people enjoy working here and with each other?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
People generally enjoy coming to work	If you had to describe the team energy in one word, what would it be?
We celebrate successes as a team	When did we last properly celebrate something?
Interpersonal dynamics are healthy — no drama or cliques	Are there any relationships that are strained or avoided?
We laugh and have non-work conversations	Do we know each other as people, not just colleagues?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Dimension 4: Psychological Safety

Can people speak up, take risks, and make mistakes without fear?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
People raise concerns without worrying about the consequences	When did someone last raise a concern publicly? What happened?
Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities, not blame events	Think of the last mistake on the team. How was it handled?
People challenge each other's ideas in a constructive way	Do we have real debates, or do we agree in the room and disagree in the corridor?
Everyone's voice feels equally heard regardless of seniority	Do the same people always speak first and longest?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Dimension 5: Speed & Feedback Loops

Do we learn fast and adjust quickly?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
We get feedback on our work quickly (from users, data, tests)	How long after shipping do we know if something worked?
Our planning and retrospective cycles help us improve	Do retros lead to real change, or do the same issues come back?
We cut work that isn't working, even when it's hard	Can you name something we've stopped doing because it wasn't working?
Our meetings and processes don't slow us down	Which meetings do people dread? Which do they find valuable?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Dimension 6: Mission & Purpose

Do we understand why our work matters?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
Everyone on the team can articulate why their work matters	Could each person on this team explain to a stranger why their work is important?
The team's goals are clear and shared	Can everyone name the team's top 3 priorities right now?
Our work connects to the wider company direction	Do we understand how we fit into the bigger picture?
We're proud of what this team builds	If you described your team's work to someone you respect, would you feel good about it?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Dimension 7: Collaboration & Support

Do we work well together and support each other?

Indicator	Probes for discussion
People actively help each other when someone is stuck	Think of the last time someone was blocked — what happened?
Knowledge is shared openly — no information silos	Is there any knowledge that only one person holds? What's the risk?
Cross-team collaboration is smooth and low-friction	Which team is hardest to collaborate with and why?
People feel supported when they're struggling	Is there psychological safety to say "I'm struggling with this"?

Current vote: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴

Key themes from discussion:

What would make this Green?

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Part 3: Health Summary & Report

Use this template to document results after the session or survey.

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RAG Summary Dashboard

Dimension	Score	Status	Trend vs last quarter
Delivering Value	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[↑ / → / ↓]
Easy to Release	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[...]
Fun & Morale	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[...]
Psychological Safety	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[...]
Speed & Feedback Loops	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[...]
Mission & Purpose	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[...]
Collaboration & Support	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[...]
Overall	[X/5]	🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴	[↑ / → / ↓]

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Top Themes

What's working well (keep doing):

1. [...]
2. [...]

What needs attention (most important to fix):

1. [Most pressing issue — specific, with evidence from the session]
2. [Second issue]
3. [Third issue — if applicable]

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Action Plan

Action	Owner	Due date	Success indicator
[Specific action — e.g. Introduce pairing Fridays for knowledge sharing]	[Team lead / individual]	[Date]	[How will we know it worked?]
[...]	[...]	[...]	[...]

Next health check: [Date — recommended 6–8 weeks for teams with active improvement actions, 13 weeks for steady-state teams]

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Quality Checks

• Session ground rules established psychological safety before voting started
• Each dimension had open discussion, not just a vote
• Actions are specific enough to be verifiably done — no vague commitments like "improve communication"
• Each action has a single owner — not "the team"
• Results are shared with the team, not kept by management
• Trend data is tracked across cycles to show improvement or regression

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Run a team health check for my engineering squad"
• "Facilitate a team health assessment — we've had some morale issues"
• "Build a team health check survey for my product team"
• "Generate a Spotify-style health check for our cross-functional pod"
• "Create a quarterly team health check template"