Just as the body needs a physical check-up to ensure its health, companies too require a deep introspective assessment. Organizational health is the lifeblood that ensures not just survival, but thriving in the ever-competitive market.

If you notice signs of imbalance within your company, whether it's misalignment in success metrics or issues regarding workload capacity, it's crucial to dive deep and diagnose the root cause. Engage in open discussions, especially with the leadership team, to understand where the health issues lie and how they can be addressed.

Before delving deeper, ask: Why is organizational health a concern for the company? This question serves as the anchor, from which you branch out to:

Company Health Issues: This encompasses:

• Culture & Climate: Do the values, beliefs, and environment support growth and well-being?

• Success & Alignment: Are goals clear, and is the team aligned with the company's vision?

• Workload & Capacity: Can the team handle its current workload? Are resources optimally allocated?

Individual Health Issues: This dives into the personal well-being of team members, considering:

• Physical: Are there any physical health challenges affecting performance?

• Mental: Are psychological or emotional factors hindering work?

• Resilience: How adaptable is the individual to stress and change?

After identifying the core domain, the "divide and conquer" approach becomes crucial. Break down the broader problem into sub-issues, ensuring they're specific, measurable, mutually exclusive, and collectively exhaustive.

Why? Just as an arborist would inspect each branch of a tree for health, a founder must examine each issue individually. This granularity aids in crafting specific strategies that address the root causes, fostering a healthier organization.

Just like a medical check-up, companies need assessments to ensure their overall health. Beyond financial metrics, this includes culture, team alignment, and the well-being of team members. Use this guide to implement a structured approach for organizational health with issue trees.

• Why It Matters: Identify the key problem: Why is organizational health an issue at your company? This forms the base for all strategies ahead.

• Problem Definition: Be clear, specific, measurable, and audience-focused when defining your problem.

• Company vs. Individual Health: Is the issue company-wide or individual?

• Issue Trees Explained: Issue trees break down problems into manageable, focused sub-issues, adhering to a divide-and-conquer strategy. These sub-issues should be Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive (MECE).

• Strategies & Revisiting: After identifying sub-issues, formulate tailored strategies. Ensure to circle back to see if the problem is clearly defined, all sub-issues are MECE, and that you have enough data for solutions.