Runs on PeopleBlog / Team health · 3 min read
The 15-minute team health check
You don't need an engagement survey to know how your team is doing. You need fifteen minutes, five honest questions and the nerve to act on the answers.
Why you need one
Most managers find out a team is struggling too late: a resignation, a sick note, a blow-up in a meeting. The signs were there for weeks. Nobody asked in a way that made it easy to answer.
A health check is a short, regular conversation about how the team is, not what it's delivering. It works because it's small, it's routine, and it doesn't wait for something to go wrong.
The five questions
Ask each person to score each line from 1 to 5, on their own, before anyone talks.
| Area | The question |
|---|---|
| Workload | Is the amount of work manageable most weeks? |
| Clarity | Do I know what matters most right now? |
| Support | When I'm stuck, can I get help quickly? |
| Speaking up | Can I disagree or admit a mistake without it costing me? |
| Energy | Am I leaving work with something left in the tank? |
Keep the questions the same each time. The value is in the trend, not the single score.
How to run it
- Explain why, once. "I want a regular check on how we're doing, not just what we're doing. It's short, and I'll act on it."
- Score silently. Two minutes. Sticky notes, a shared sheet or cards held up at once. Anonymous if trust is low.
- Show the spread. Put the scores up together. Look for the lowest line, and the line where scores differ most.
- Talk about one line only. Ask: "What's behind the low scores here?" Listen more than you speak.
- Agree one small change. Something the team can do in the next fortnight. One owner.
- Repeat every month. Same questions, same format. Start each one by reporting back on last month's change.
What to listen for
- A wide spread often matters more than a low average. It means people are having very different experiences of the same team.
- A sudden drop in one area is worth a private follow-up, even if the team says it's fine.
- Scores that never move may mean people have stopped believing it changes anything. Ask them.
What to say
When a score is low, resist the urge to explain or defend. Thank them and get curious.
"Thanks for being straight about that. Speaking up has come in lowest. I'd like to understand it, not argue with it. What's one thing that makes it harder to say what you think here? You can tell me now or after, whichever is easier."
Common mistakes
- Turning it into a performance metric. The moment scores go upwards in a report, they stop being honest.
- Fixing everything at once. Pick one line and do something visible about it.
- Skipping it when things are busy. That's when it matters most.
In other industries
A ward team can run this at the end of a handover, a small practice over Monday coffee, a shift team at the start of a briefing. The questions don't need changing. Fifteen minutes is fifteen minutes in any job.
Try this week
Put the five questions on a card and run your first health check at the end of your next team meeting.
Think about it
Which of the five questions would you least like to hear your team's honest answer to, and why?
Keep reading
Twelve small rituals that stop a team going stale
Teams rarely burn out from one big thing. They wear down from the same week on repeat. Twelve small, cheap ideas to bring some energy back, none of which need a budget.
How to enable change without a change programme
People don't resist change. They resist loss, and being done to. How to lead a change so people come with you, whether it's a new system, a new structure or a new way of working.
Change fatigue: when your team has had enough
One change is manageable. Five at once, with no end in sight, wears people out. How to spot change fatigue early and protect your team from it.