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
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]
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?
Part 2: Health Dimensions
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
Part 3: Health Summary & Report
Use this template to document results after the session or survey.
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] | 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴 | [↑ / → / ↓] |
Top Themes
What's working well (keep doing):
- [...]
- [...]
What needs attention (most important to fix):
- [Most pressing issue — specific, with evidence from the session]
- [Second issue]
- [Third issue — if applicable]
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]
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
Anti-Patterns
- Do not run a health check without first establishing psychological safety — without it, scores reflect fear, not reality
- Do not treat a single health check as a trend — one data point cannot show improvement or regression
- Do not keep results with management without sharing them with the team — transparency is a prerequisite for trust
- Do not generate action items that are vague commitments like "improve communication" — every action must be specific and verifiable
- Do not assign actions to "the team" — each improvement action needs a single named owner
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"