Team Health Check Template: Free Traffic-Light Scorer
Leadership tools for managers › Team health
A team health check is a short, regular check-in where your team rates how things are going, usually as green, amber or red, across a few areas such as role clarity, delivery, communication and trust. KPIs tell you what has already gone wrong. A health check shows you what is about to, while there is still time to fix it.
The short version: ask 15 questions in three areas (Myself, The Work, My Team). Everyone rates each one green, amber or red. Talk about the reds first, then the ambers, and say out loud what is green. Pick one or two actions, not ten, and check again next quarter. Use the free scorer below to do it now.
Use the free scorerSee the 15 questions
Score your team now (free, no sign-up)
Answer as honestly as you can for the team as it is today. It takes about five minutes. Then ask your team to do the same and compare: the gap between your view and theirs is often the most useful result.
Free team health check scorer
Rate each statement for your team right now. Green: going well (not perfect, but fine). Amber: some problems to solve, but not a disaster. Red: a real problem that needs action. No sign-up. Nothing is sent or saved: your answers stay in this browser tab.
0 of 15 answered. Your results build as you go.
The team health check template: 15 questions in 3 areas
These are the questions from the Team Health Check card. The first five are about each person's own experience, the next five about the work, the last five about how the team works together.
| Area | Question | What a red usually looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Myself | Do I feel valued and supported? | Good work goes unnoticed; people only hear from you when something is wrong. |
| Can I voice my thoughts freely? | Ideas come out after the meeting, in private messages, not in the room. | |
| Am I clear on my role and expectations? | Two people think they own the same task, or nobody does. | |
| Do I have the resources I need? | People wait on access, budget, tools or answers to do their job. | |
| Am I growing professionally? | Nobody can name what they have learned in the last six months. | |
| The Work | Is our goal and vision clear? | Ask three people what the team is for and you get three answers. |
| Do we deliver tasks on time? | Deadlines slip quietly and get discovered late. | |
| Are we providing value through our work? | Work gets finished, but nobody can say who it helped. | |
| Do we prioritize customer needs? | Internal convenience wins over what the customer actually needs. | |
| Are our processes efficient and clear? | The same handover or approval goes wrong every week. | |
| My Team | Do we communicate effectively? | Important news reaches some people days after others. |
| Is there a strong sense of trust? | People double-check each other's work, or avoid asking for help. | |
| Do we collaborate well on tasks? | Work is split up and stitched together at the end, with surprises. | |
| Are we respectful of each other's opinions? | Disagreement turns personal, or stops happening at all. | |
| Do we celebrate our successes together? | Wins pass without comment; the next deadline starts the next morning. |
What green, amber and red mean
| Colour | Meaning | What you do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Things are going well. Not perfect, but satisfactory. | Say it out loud and protect it. Ask "what are we doing that keeps this green?" |
| Amber | Some problems need solving, but it is not a disaster. | Note it. Fix it if it's cheap, otherwise watch it next time. |
| Red | A real problem that needs action now. | Talk about it first. Agree one owner and one next step. |
The traffic-light format is the same idea behind the squad health checks that agile teams have used for years. It works because a colour is easier to say out loud than a score out of ten, and harder to hide behind.
How to run a team health check in 45 minutes
- Check the room is safe enough (before). A health check only works if people can say "red" without paying for it. If trust is low, start with anonymous votes and talk about patterns, not people.
- Explain why (5 minutes). "This isn't a performance review. It's how we spot problems early. I'll go first with what I think is amber or red about how I manage."
- Everyone votes on their own (10 minutes). In the room, use green, amber and red sticky notes or cards. Remote, everyone opens this page on their own device and pastes their copied results into the chat when the timer ends, so nobody anchors on the first answer.
- Put the colours side by side (5 minutes). Look for the questions with the most reds, and the ones where people disagree most. Disagreement is a finding, not noise.
- Talk about the reds first (15 minutes). Ask "what would make this one amber?" rather than "why is this red?". Then the ambers. Then name the greens.
- Agree one or two actions (5 minutes). Each with an owner and a date. Pick the reds where a small change helps the most people.
- Follow up (5 minutes, then ongoing). Pick up individual reds in your next 1:1s, and run the check again next quarter with the same questions so you can see the trend.
What to do about each red
The questions that most often come up red, and a first move for each. The quoted prompts are real cards from the Team Talk set in The Team Conversation Deck.
| If this is red | First move this week | Card in The Leader's Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Can I voice my thoughts freely? | Go first: share a mistake you made recently. Then use the psychological safety guide. Team Talk prompt: "When someone on the team makes a mistake, how do we typically respond—and how should we respond?" | Psychological Safety |
| Am I clear on my role and expectations? | Write down who owns what and read it back together. One-line test: can each person say what "good" looks like in their role this quarter? | Roles and Responsibilities, Setting Expectations |
| Do I feel valued and supported? | Ask each person in their next 1:1: "Do you prefer receiving recognition publicly in team settings or through private one-on-one feedback?" Then do it their way. | 1-1s |
| Am I growing professionally? | Hold a stay interview and agree one stretch task per person. Handing over real work is the fastest growth there is: see the delegation matrix. | Career Goals, Stay Interview |
| Do we deliver tasks on time? | End every planning meeting with four columns: who, what, when, how. Team Talk prompt: "Where does work tend to slow down or get stuck?" | Who, What, When & How |
| Is our goal and vision clear? | Team Talk prompt: "Is the “Why” behind our work clear to everyone? Why do we do what we do?" Write the answer in one sentence and put it at the top of every team meeting agenda for a month. | Setting Expectations |
| Are our processes efficient and clear? | Run a short retrospective on the last piece of work: what went well, what didn't, what we change next time. Team Talk prompt: "If you had a magic wand to fix one thing about how we work, what would you change?" | Retrospective |
| Is there a strong sense of trust? | Start with your own behaviour, not a team exercise: see how to build trust in a team. A personal user manual swap helps people stop guessing about each other. | Building Trust in your Team |
| Are we respectful of each other's opinions? | Agree how you disagree. Team Talk prompt: "How can we better handle disagreements and conflicts within the team?" | Conflict Resolution |
| Do we celebrate our successes together? | Add a two-minute "wins" round to the end of the weekly meeting. Team Talk prompt: "How can we better celebrate individual and team achievements?" | 1-1s |
Common mistakes
- Treating it as a survey. The scores matter less than the conversation they start. A form nobody discusses is worse than no form.
- Fixing everything at once. Ten actions means none happen. One or two, with owners.
- Arguing with the colour. If someone says red, it's red for them. Ask what would change it.
- Running it once. The value is in the trend. Same questions, every quarter.
- Running it when trust is very low. Fix safety first, or keep it anonymous, or you'll get a sea of green that nobody believes.
The Team Conversation Deck
160 printed conversation cards in four sets of 40 (Icebreakers, Deeper Connections, Work Connections and Team Talk), plus two bonus tool cards: Team Health Check and My User Manual. For team meetings, 1:1s, onboarding and offsites. Over 3,000 sold, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
See the DeckManaging the team as well as checking on it? The same health check is a card in The Leader's Toolkit, alongside the cards you'll need for the reds: Setting Expectations, Retrospective, Conflict Resolution and Psychological Safety. Over 6,000 copies sold.
FAQs
What is a team health check?
A team health check is a short self-assessment where team members rate how things are going, usually green, amber or red, across a few areas such as role clarity, delivery, communication and trust. It is a leading indicator: KPIs tell you what has already gone wrong, a health check shows what is about to.
What questions should a team health check include?
Keep it to about 15 questions in three areas: Myself (valued, able to speak up, clear on my role, resourced, growing), The Work (clear goal, on-time delivery, value, customer focus, efficient processes) and My Team (communication, trust, collaboration, respect, celebrating success). The full list is on this page.
How often should you run a team health check?
Every quarter works for most teams, and after any big change such as a reorganisation, a new manager or a tough project. Running it more often than monthly tends to produce survey fatigue rather than better answers.
Should team health check answers be anonymous?
If trust is low, yes: start with anonymous votes and discuss the pattern, not individuals. As trust grows, open voting leads to better conversations because people can explain their colour.
Is this team health check scorer free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and nothing is stored or sent anywhere: your answers stay in your browser tab until you close it. Use Copy my results to paste them into your notes or team chat.
Where does this team health check come from?
It is the Team Health Check tool from Leader Tools. It appears as a bonus card in The Team Conversation Deck and as a card in The Leader's Toolkit.