At least once every three months, healthy teams perform self care by doing a health check. This can be as simple as taking an hour to talk over the following:
- Are we still operating by the same basic ground rules? Revisit previously agreed-upon norms such as how you communicate, how often and when you meet, how you make decisions and how you handle conflict.
- Do our individual roles still make sense?
- What’s our #1 priority for the next 3 months? What are the main 3-4 steps to get that done?
- What other major goals do we need to accomplish in the next 3 months?
About once a year, try a more extensive health check using this team health check tool:
The team health check tool has an individual component and a team component. Individually, each member completes a 15 minute assessment of the team on the basic qualities of team health: God dependence, trust, communication, commitment & purpose. Then the team gathers to share their observations with each other, and finally identify some action steps to work on together.
You can do this on your own, but it can be even more helpful by getting an outside coach to help your team discuss it together.