When performance dips, energy drops, or friction starts to show up, the instinct is often to act quickly.
Restructure. Add new processes. Introduce KPIs. "Have a word" with people.
But if you don't understand what's really driving the symptoms, you risk fixing the wrong thing - or making it worse.
This checklist is designed to help you pause before you act.
It helps you look underneath the symptoms and identify where attention is really needed - so any action you take is targeted, proportionate, and more likely to stick.
The checklist covers four critical areas:
- Clarity: Are expectations, priorities, and decision rights clear?
- Ways of Working: Are processes and workflows helping or hindering?
- Alignment & Trust: Do people understand how their work connects to the bigger picture?
- Capacity & Sustainability: Is the system asking more of people than it can sustain?
This isn't a performance management tool or a staff survey. It's a leadership reflection aid - a way to spot patterns that are easy to overlook when things appear to be "working."
Use it to sense-check what's really happening before you design your next solution.
Download the Team Troubleshooting Checklist and diagnose properly before you act.
