team-health git:20260326.c5593b4A

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---
name: team-health
description: "Periodic check on team dynamics, engagement signals, and development trajectory for all direct reports. Surfaces patterns across the team -- who might need more challenge, who might need more support, who hasn't had a 1:1 recently. Uses two universal lenses: performance & growth, and wellbeing & connection. Outputs are prompts for reflection, not diagnoses."
---

# Team Health Check

> **Two lenses, always.** "Development" asks: is this person growing and performing? "Wellbeing" asks: is this person thriving, connected, and energised? Great managers hold both.

A periodic overview of team dynamics, engagement signals, wellbeing, and development trajectory across all direct reports.

## When to Use

- Weekly or biweekly team health review
- Before calibration or planning meetings
- When the manager says "how's my team doing?", "team health check", "anyone I should check in with?"
- When preparing for skip-level conversations

## Instructions

If any MCP connector is unavailable, follow the connector unavailability protocol in `../../references/operating-principles.md`.

### 1. Load Team Context

Read from `manager-context/`:
- `manager-profile.md` -- full list of direct reports
- `team/` -- individual profiles with goals, projects, last review dates
- `sources.md` -- channels and data locations per team member

If context is missing, note it and work with available sources.

### 2. Scan Per Team Member

For each direct report, gather data from the last 14 days (or since last health check):

**Activity & Engagement (Slack):**
- Message volume in team/project channels (relative to their baseline if known)
- Types of messages: asking questions, answering questions, sharing updates, celebrating, flagging issues
- Channels they're active in
- Any public wins or recognition received
- Any public frustration or repeated blockers

**1:1 Cadence (Calendar):**
- When was their last 1:1 with the manager?
- Were recent 1:1s kept or cancelled?
- Are they overdue for a 1:1?

**Development Goals (Notion/Drive):**
- Last time their goals were updated
- Any progress notes or self-assessments
- Are there development areas with no recent activity?

**Workload Signals (Calendar + Slack):**
- Meeting load (heavy/normal/light for their role)
- Are they in channels/meetings outside their usual scope? (scope expansion -- could be good or concerning)

**Wellbeing & Connection Signals (Slack + Calendar):**
- Energy & wellbeing: late-night messages, weekend activity, signs of overwork
- Connection: are they participating in non-work channels (#random, social threads, team celebrations)?
- Celebration: have they been recognised or praised recently? Have they celebrated others?
- Tone: are their messages upbeat, neutral, or showing signs of frustration/fatigue? (use as a soft signal only -- never diagnose)
- Fun & enjoyment: any signs of passion, enthusiasm, or joy in their work (shipping excitement, sharing wins, volunteering for things)?

### 3. Synthesise Per Person

For each team member, produce a brief profile covering both lenses:

```
### [Name] -- [Role]

**🎯 Development & Performance:**
**Activity:** [Normal / Increased / Decreased] -- [1-line evidence]
**Recent wins:** [list any, or "None surfaced"]
**Goals:** [last updated date] -- [current / stale]
**Development focus:** [area from goals] -- [evidence of progress / no visible progress]
**Growth signals:** [scope expansion, new skills, leadership behaviours -- or "None"]

**🫂 Wellbeing & Connection:**
**Energy:** [Balanced / High output / Signs of overwork] -- [evidence, e.g., "messages after 22:00 on 3 nights"]
**Connection:** [Active in social channels / Quiet / Only work-related activity]
**Celebrated/been celebrated:** [yes -- details / not recently]
**Tone:** [Positive / Neutral / Worth checking in] -- [soft signal only]

**Last 1:1:** [date] -- [on track / overdue]
**Signals to explore:** [friction, blockers, wellbeing patterns -- or "None"]
```

### 4. Surface Team-Level Patterns

Look across the team for patterns in both dimensions:

**🎯 Development & Performance patterns:**
- **Recognition gap:** Anyone who hasn't received public recognition in >2 weeks?
- **1:1 gap:** Anyone overdue for a 1:1?
- **Goal staleness:** Anyone whose development goals haven't been updated in >6 weeks?
- **Growth signals:** Anyone taking on new scope or showing leadership behaviours?
- **Performance signals:** Anyone showing decreased engagement across multiple indicators?

**🫂 Wellbeing & Connection patterns:**
- **Energy imbalance:** Anyone consistently working late, weekends, or showing signs of overwork?
- **Isolation risk:** Anyone who's gone quiet in social channels or stopped engaging beyond work tasks?
- **Celebration deficit:** Is the team celebrating wins? Are specific people consistently uncelebrated?
- **Fun factor:** Is there joy and energy in team channels, or has everything become purely transactional?
- **Workload imbalance:** Anyone significantly more or less loaded than peers?

### 5. Produce the Health Check

Read `references/output-template.md` for the full output template structure.

### 6. Present

```
Here's your team health check. These are signals for your reflection -- you know your people better than any tool.

Want me to prep a 1:1 for anyone specific?
```

### 7. Sub-Agent Review

Spawn a sub-agent to review the health check with fresh eyes. The reviewer should:
- Check that **both lenses** (Development & Performance and Wellbeing & Connection) are meaningfully covered -- neither should be thin or skipped.
- Check for **baseline awareness** -- are signals calibrated against known baselines, or is normal behaviour being flagged?
- Verify that language stays in "signal" territory, never crossing into diagnosis ("seems disengaged", "is struggling").
- Check that **celebration and recognition** are given adequate weight -- not just problem-flagging.
- Flag any team member who appears to have very thin data -- the manager should know where the blind spots are.

Incorporate the reviewer's feedback before presenting the final health check to the manager.

## Important Notes

Read `../../references/operating-principles.md` for shared operating principles (data scope, DM flagging, signals vs diagnoses, connector unavailability).

Additional notes specific to this skill:
- **Celebrate first.** Lead with wins, recognition, and positive energy. Wellbeing & Connection starts with seeing the good.
- **Both lenses, every time.** Don't skip Wellbeing & Connection when the team is performing well -- high performance without care leads to burnout. Don't skip Development & Performance when someone is struggling -- care without growth isn't enough.
- **Goals are the anchor for growth.** The most actionable Development & Performance insight is usually about development goals -- are they current? Is there visible progress?
- **Connection is the anchor for care.** The most actionable Wellbeing & Connection insight is usually about belonging -- does this person feel seen, celebrated, and connected?
- **Don't run too frequently.** Weekly or biweekly is ideal. Daily health checks would over-index on noise.