--- name: org-health-diagnostic description: > Cross-functional organizational health check combining signals from all C-suite roles. Scores 8 dimensions on a traffic-light scale with drill-down recommendations and cascade analysis. Use when assessing overall company health, preparing for board reviews, identifying at-risk functions, diagnosing cross-functional problems, or when user mentions org health, health check, health dashboard, company health, functional health, or health assessment. license: MIT + Commons Clause metadata: version: 2.0.0 author: borghei category: c-level domain: organizational-health updated: 2026-03-09 frameworks: - health-benchmarks - 8-dimension-model - cascade-analysis - stage-adjusted-scoring - graceful-degradation triggers: - org health - organizational health - health diagnostic - health dashboard - health check - company health - functional health - team health - startup health - health scorecard - health assessment - risk dashboard - overall health - company assessment --- # Org Health Diagnostic Eight dimensions. Traffic lights. Real benchmarks. Surfaces the problems you do not know you have and shows how problems in one dimension cascade to others. ## Keywords org health, organizational health, health diagnostic, health dashboard, health check, company health, functional health, team health, startup health, health scorecard, health assessment, risk dashboard, cross-functional health, dimension cascade, stage benchmarks --- ## The 8 Dimensions ### Dimension Overview | # | Dimension | C-Suite Owner | Core Question | |---|-----------|--------------|---------------| | 1 | Financial Health | CFO | Can we fund operations and invest in growth? | | 2 | Revenue Health | CRO | Are customers staying, growing, and recommending us? | | 3 | Product Health | CPO | Do customers love and use the product? | | 4 | Engineering Health | CTO | Can we ship reliably and sustain velocity? | | 5 | People Health | CHRO | Is the team stable, engaged, and growing? | | 6 | Operational Health | COO | Are we executing our strategy with discipline? | | 7 | Security Health | CISO | Are we protecting customers and maintaining compliance? | | 8 | Market Health | CMO | Are we winning in the market and growing efficiently? | --- ### Dimension 1: Financial Health (CFO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | Runway (months) | > 18 | 9-18 | < 9 | | Burn multiple | < 1.5x | 1.5-2.5x | > 2.5x | | Gross margin | > 70% | 55-70% | < 55% | | Revenue concentration (top customer) | < 10% | 10-20% | > 20% | | MoM growth rate | Above benchmark | At benchmark | Below benchmark | ### Dimension 2: Revenue Health (CRO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | NRR | > 110% | 100-110% | < 100% | | Logo churn (annual) | < 5% | 5-10% | > 10% | | Pipeline coverage (next Q) | > 3x | 2-3x | < 2x | | CAC payback | < 12 months | 12-18 months | > 18 months | | Win rate | > 25% | 15-25% | < 15% | ### Dimension 3: Product Health (CPO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | NPS | > 40 | 20-40 | < 20 | | DAU/MAU ratio | > 40% | 20-40% | < 20% | | Core feature adoption | > 60% | 30-60% | < 30% | | Time to value | Decreasing QoQ | Stable | Increasing QoQ | | CSAT | > 4.2/5 | 3.5-4.2 | < 3.5 | ### Dimension 4: Engineering Health (CTO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | Deploy frequency | Daily | Weekly | Monthly or less | | Change failure rate | < 5% | 5-15% | > 15% | | MTTR | < 1 hour | 1-4 hours | > 4 hours | | Tech debt ratio (% of sprint) | < 20% | 20-35% | > 35% | | P0/P1 incidents per month | < 2 | 2-5 | > 5 | ### Dimension 5: People Health (CHRO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | Regrettable attrition (annual) | < 10% | 10-20% | > 20% | | eNPS | > 30 | 0-30 | < 0 | | Time to fill (avg days) | < 45 | 45-90 | > 90 | | Manager:IC ratio | 1:5-1:8 | 1:3-1:5 or 1:8-1:12 | Outside range | | Internal promotion rate | > 30% | 15-30% | < 15% | ### Dimension 6: Operational Health (COO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | OKR completion rate | > 70% | 50-70% | < 50% | | Decision cycle time | < 48 hours | 48hrs-1 week | > 1 week | | Meeting effectiveness | Clear outcomes | Mixed | No outcomes | | Cross-functional initiative completion | > 80% on time | 50-80% | < 50% | | Process documentation coverage | > 70% | 40-70% | < 40% | ### Dimension 7: Security Health (CISO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | Security incidents (90 days) | 0 | 1-2 minor | 1+ major | | Compliance status | All current | In progress | Overdue/lapsed | | Critical vuln remediation SLA | 100% in SLA | > 90% | < 90% | | Security training completion | > 95% | 80-95% | < 80% | | Pen test recency | < 12 months | 12-24 months | > 24 months | ### Dimension 8: Market Health (CMO) | Metric | Green (7-10) | Yellow (4-6) | Red (1-3) | |--------|-------------|-------------|-----------| | CAC trend | Improving QoQ | Stable | Worsening QoQ | | Organic vs paid lead mix | > 50% organic | 30-50% organic | < 30% organic | | Win rate vs competitors | Improving | Stable | Declining | | Brand awareness (in ICP) | > 40% | 20-40% | < 20% | | Pipeline contribution (marketing) | > 40% | 20-40% | < 20% | --- ## Scoring System ### Individual Dimension Score Each dimension scores 1-10 based on weighted metrics: ``` Dimension Score = Sum(metric_score x metric_weight) / Sum(weights) Traffic Light: Green (7-10): Healthy -- maintain and optimize Yellow (4-6): Watch -- trend matters (improving or declining?) Red (1-3): Action required -- address within 30 days ``` ### Overall Health Score Weighted average by company stage: | Dimension | Seed Weight | Series A | Series B | Series C+ | |-----------|------------|----------|----------|-----------| | Financial | 20% | 15% | 15% | 15% | | Revenue | 10% | 20% | 20% | 20% | | Product | 25% | 20% | 15% | 10% | | Engineering | 15% | 15% | 15% | 10% | | People | 10% | 10% | 15% | 15% | | Operations | 5% | 10% | 10% | 15% | | Security | 5% | 5% | 5% | 10% | | Market | 10% | 5% | 5% | 5% | ### Stage-Adjusted Benchmarks Different stages have different healthy ranges. A Seed company with 6-month runway is normal; a Series C company with 6-month runway is a crisis. | Stage | Runway Target | Burn Multiple | Team Size | Revenue Threshold | |-------|--------------|---------------|-----------|-------------------| | Seed | > 12 months | Not applicable | 2-10 | Pre-revenue acceptable | | Series A | > 18 months | < 3x | 10-40 | > $500K ARR | | Series B | > 18 months | < 2x | 30-100 | > $3M ARR | | Series C+ | > 24 months | < 1.5x | 80-300 | > $15M ARR | --- ## Cascade Analysis ### How Dimension Failures Propagate This is the most important part of the diagnostic. Problems in one dimension inevitably create problems in others. | If This Is Red... | Watch These Next... | Why | |-------------------|---------------------|-----| | Financial | People -> Engineering -> Product | Budget cuts -> hiring freeze -> velocity drops -> product stalls | | Revenue | Financial -> People -> Market | Cash gap -> attrition risk -> positioning weakens | | Product | Revenue -> Market -> People | NRR drops -> CAC rises -> top talent leaves | | Engineering | Product -> Revenue | Features slip -> deals stall on missing features | | People | Engineering -> Product -> Revenue | Velocity drops -> quality drops -> churn rises | | Operations | ALL dimensions degrade over time | Execution failure cascades everywhere | | Security | Revenue (enterprise) -> Financial | Enterprise deals blocked -> revenue impact | | Market | Revenue -> Financial | Lead pipeline dries up -> sales suffers | ### Cascade Risk Decision Tree ``` START: Dimension scores calculated | v [Any dimension RED?] | +-- NO --> [Any dimension YELLOW with declining trend?] | | | +-- YES --> Monitor cascade. Check connected dimensions. | +-- NO --> Healthy. Maintain current approach. | +-- YES --> [Check cascade connections] | v [Are connected dimensions also Yellow/Red?] | +-- YES --> SYSTEMIC ISSUE. Root cause in the Red dimension. | Address Red dimension first. Connected will improve. | +-- NO --> ISOLATED ISSUE. Fix Red dimension before it cascades. Timeline: 30 days or cascade begins. ``` --- ## Dashboard Output Format ``` ORG HEALTH DIAGNOSTIC -- [Company] -- [Date] Stage: [Seed/A/B/C] Overall: [Score]/10 Trend: [Improving/Stable/Declining] DIMENSION SCORES ------------------------------------------------------------ Financial [G] 8.2 Runway 14mo, burn 1.6x Revenue [Y] 5.8 NRR 104%, pipeline thin (1.8x) Product [G] 7.4 NPS 42, DAU/MAU 38% Engineering [Y] 5.2 Debt at 30%, MTTR 3.2h People [R] 3.8 Attrition 24%, eNPS -5 Operations [Y] 6.0 OKR 65% completion Security [G] 7.8 SOC 2 complete, 0 incidents Market [Y] 5.5 CAC rising, win rate 22% ------------------------------------------------------------ TOP PRIORITIES (address in order) [R] 1. People: attrition at 24% Impact: Engineering velocity drops in 60 days (cascade risk) Action: Retention audit + intervention for top 5 at-risk Owner: CHRO + CEO | Timeline: This week [Y] 2. Revenue: pipeline at 1.8x Impact: Q+1 miss risk is high Action: Add 3 qualified opps in 30 days or adjust forecast Owner: CRO | Timeline: 30 days [Y] 3. Engineering: tech debt at 30% Impact: Shipping velocity slows by Q3 Action: Dedicated debt sprint plan Owner: CTO | Timeline: 45 days CASCADE WARNING People [R] --> Engineering [Y] cascade risk If attrition continues: engineering velocity drops -> product delays -> revenue impact in 2 quarters DATA GAPS [!] Market: Brand awareness data needed [!] Operations: Meeting effectiveness not measured ``` --- ## Graceful Degradation Not all data is always available. The diagnostic handles partial data: | Data Availability | Approach | |------------------|----------| | All metrics available | Full scoring, all dimensions | | Missing 1-2 metrics per dimension | Score available metrics, flag gaps | | Missing entire dimension | Exclude from overall score, flag as "[data needed]" | | Only 3-4 dimensions have data | Partial diagnostic, clearly marked | --- ## Diagnostic Cadence | Frequency | Scope | Audience | |-----------|-------|----------| | Weekly | Scorecard metrics only (2-3 per dimension) | Leadership team | | Monthly | Full 8-dimension assessment | CEO + direct reports | | Quarterly | Deep diagnostic with cascade analysis + benchmarks | Board-ready report | | Annual | Full diagnostic + year-over-year comparison + strategy implications | Board + investors | --- ## Red Flags - Any dimension Red for 2+ consecutive months -- systemic problem, not a blip - 3+ dimensions Yellow simultaneously -- organizational strain, prioritize ruthlessly - Overall score declining 3+ months -- strategic review needed - Cascade warning triggered and not addressed in 30 days -- will get worse - Data gaps persist for 2+ cycles -- measurement culture problem - Score improving but team sentiment declining -- measurement gaming - No dimension ever Red -- either the company is exceptional or standards are too low --- ## Integration with C-Suite | Dimension | Owner Skill | Drill-Down | |-----------|------------|------------| | Financial | CFO Advisor (`cfo-advisor`) | Deep financial analysis | | Revenue | CRO Advisor (`cro-advisor`) | Pipeline and retention analysis | | Product | CPO Advisor (`cpo-advisor`) | PMF assessment and portfolio review | | Engineering | CTO Advisor (`cto-advisor`) | Technical health and debt analysis | | People | CHRO Advisor (`chro-advisor`) | Retention, engagement, org design | | Operations | COO Advisor (`coo-advisor`) | Process maturity, execution cadence | | Security | CISO Advisor (`ciso-advisor`) | Risk register, compliance status | | Market | CMO Advisor (`cmo-advisor`) | Positioning, channel effectiveness | --- ## Output Artifacts | Request | Deliverable | |---------|-------------| | "How healthy is the company?" | Full 8-dimension dashboard with traffic lights | | "What should we fix first?" | Prioritized action list with cascade analysis | | "Prepare health section for board" | Board-ready health summary with trends | | "Compare to last quarter" | Quarter-over-quarter comparison with trend arrows | | "Where are we at risk?" | Cascade risk map with interconnected failures | | "What data do we need?" | Data gap analysis with collection recommendations | --- ## Troubleshooting | Problem | Likely Cause | Resolution | |---------|-------------|------------| | Scores consistently show all green but team sentiment is negative | Metrics being gamed or standards set too low; measurement doesn't capture reality | Cross-reference quantitative scores with qualitative signals (exit interviews, Glassdoor, skip-level conversations); raise benchmarks to industry-standard levels | | Cascade analysis shows systemic issue but leadership disagrees | Red dimension owners resistant to acknowledging problems | Present cascade evidence with data: "People Red for 2 months → Engineering Yellow → Product delays in pipeline"; use McKinsey OHI principle of benchmarking against external data | | Data gaps persist across multiple diagnostic cycles | No measurement infrastructure; teams don't prioritize data collection | Assign data collection to specific owners with deadlines; start with proxy metrics where direct measurement is unavailable | | Diagnostic takes too long to produce (> 2 weeks) | Trying to measure everything perfectly instead of using available data | Apply graceful degradation: score what you have, flag gaps, iterate; a partial diagnostic now beats a perfect one in 6 weeks | | Different stakeholders interpret traffic light scores differently | No shared understanding of what Green/Yellow/Red means operationally | Document specific thresholds for each metric in each dimension; share calibration examples ("Red runway = less than 9 months at current burn") | | Quarterly diagnostic shows no change despite interventions | Wrong interventions, or interventions not given enough time, or measuring lagging indicators | Verify interventions target root cause not symptoms; check leading indicators alongside lagging ones; allow 2 quarters for structural changes to show in scores | | Board wants a single number but diagnostic is multi-dimensional | Board unfamiliar with the 8-dimension model | Provide the weighted overall score (1-10) as headline with stage-adjusted weighting; drill-down dimensions available on request | --- ## Success Criteria - All 8 dimensions scored with traffic lights within 5 business days of data collection start - Cascade analysis correctly predicts downstream impacts: when a Red dimension is not addressed, connected dimensions degrade within 2 quarters - Stage-adjusted benchmarks applied correctly: Seed company not held to Series C standards and vice versa - Top 3 priorities identified with specific owners, timelines, and verification methods - Data gaps reduced by at least 50% between first and second diagnostic cycle - Board-ready health summary produced quarterly with trend comparison to prior quarter - Overall health score trending stable or improving over 3 consecutive quarters --- ## Scope & Limitations - **In scope:** 8-dimension organizational health scoring, traffic light dashboards, cascade analysis, stage-adjusted benchmarks, graceful degradation for partial data, diagnostic cadence recommendations, board-ready reporting - **Out of scope:** Deep functional diagnostics within a single dimension (use the respective C-suite advisor skill); employee engagement survey design and administration (use CHRO Advisor); financial auditing (use external auditors); security penetration testing (use CISO Advisor) - **Limitation:** Diagnostic quality depends on data accuracy; garbage in, garbage out applies -- verify data sources - **Limitation:** McKinsey OHI benchmarks are based on large enterprise data; early-stage companies may need adjusted benchmarks - **Limitation:** The 8-dimension model is a simplification; some organizations may need additional dimensions (e.g., ESG, regulatory) depending on industry - **Limitation:** Cascade predictions are based on common patterns; specific organizations may have unique cascade paths --- ## Integration Points | Skill | Integration | Data Flow | |-------|-------------|-----------| | `cfo-advisor` | Financial Health dimension deep dive | Health financial score → CFO detailed analysis | | `cro-advisor` | Revenue Health dimension deep dive | Health revenue score → CRO pipeline review | | `cpo-advisor` | Product Health dimension deep dive | Health product score → CPO PMF assessment | | `cto-advisor` | Engineering Health dimension deep dive | Health engineering score → CTO tech debt plan | | `chro-advisor` | People Health dimension deep dive | Health people score → CHRO retention strategy | | `coo-advisor` | Operational Health dimension deep dive | Health operations score → COO process review | | `ciso-advisor` | Security Health dimension deep dive | Health security score → CISO risk register | | `cmo-advisor` | Market Health dimension deep dive | Health market score → CMO channel review | | `strategic-alignment` | Health scores inform alignment priorities | Health priorities → Alignment focus areas | | `executive-mentor` | Red dimensions trigger executive coaching focus | Health red flags → Mentor challenge areas | --- ## Python Tools | Tool | Purpose | Usage | |------|---------|-------| | `scripts/org_health_scorer.py` | Score all 8 dimensions with traffic lights, stage-adjusted weighting, and overall health calculation | `python scripts/org_health_scorer.py --stage series-a --financial 7.5 --revenue 5.8 --product 7.2 --engineering 5.0 --people 3.5 --operations 6.0 --security 7.8 --market 5.5 --json` | | `scripts/span_of_control_analyzer.py` | Analyze manager-to-IC ratios across the organization and flag unhealthy spans | `python scripts/span_of_control_analyzer.py --org-file org_structure.csv --json` | | `scripts/engagement_benchmarker.py` | Benchmark engagement metrics against industry standards and flag gaps | `python scripts/engagement_benchmarker.py --enps 15 --attrition 18 --time-to-fill 60 --promotion-rate 20 --industry saas --json` |