Two questions, made measurable
Every organizational dysfunction traces back to two diagnostic questions:
"Does everyone see this the same way?"
12 questions measuring shared facts, honest tradeoffs, true constraints, and whether what's reported internally matches what's actually happening.
"Does someone own the outcome?"
12 questions measuring named ownership, matched authority, clear decision rights, and whether the pace is sustainable without heroic effort.
The Health Check produces three numbers: a Reality score, a Delivery score, and the coupling gap between them. The gap is the number no other diagnostic measures — and it's the number that explains why previous interventions plateaued.
What the 24 questions measure
| Ledger | Category | What It Asks | IAXAI Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reality (Roots) | Shared Facts | Do people have access to the same information? | I — Insight |
| Honest Tradeoffs | Are real costs acknowledged before decisions? | A — Alignment | |
| True Constraints | Are limitations openly acknowledged? | I — Insight | |
| No Spin | Does what's reported match what's happening? | A — Alignment | |
| Delivery (Canopy) | Explicit Ownership | Is it always clear who owns the outcome? | X — eXecution |
| Clear Authority | Do owners have the power to act? | X — eXecution | |
| Decision Rights | Is the decision-making process itself clear? | X — eXecution | |
| Sustainable Rhythm | Can the system run without heroic effort? | A — Accountability |
Each category contains 3 questions, scored 1–5 (Never true → Always true). The assessment takes approximately 5 minutes. No preparation required.
Three failure modes — instantly recognizable
The relationship between the two ledger scores reveals which failure mode the organization is experiencing. This is the roots-and-canopy coupling made diagnostic.
Notice: Paralysis and Chaos are single-ledger failures — exactly what happens when an organization treats only one side. Firefighting is coupled degradation — State C in the ABC qualifier. The executive who has lived through B→C will recognize their failure mode immediately.
The coupling gap: the number that explains the plateau
Most diagnostics produce a single overall score. The Health Check produces two scores and the gap between them. The gap is what matters.
Small gap, high scores: Both ledgers are healthy. The coupling is working. Monitor for drift.
Small gap, low scores: Both ledgers are degraded equally. Firefighting mode. Address both simultaneously — the IAXAI cycle is designed for exactly this.
Large gap: One ledger is significantly stronger than the other. This is the single-ledger plateau. The stronger ledger was treated; the weaker one is pulling it back. This is why the previous intervention stopped working.
When the executive sees a large gap, you have the opening: "You've been strengthening one system while the other decays. That's the loop. The gap is the coupling — and it's what we fix."
Comparative mode: where the real finding lives
The Health Check has four deployment modes. The most powerful is Mode C — Comparative Analysis: the executive takes it alone, the team takes it anonymously, and you compare.
What the comparison reveals:
Categories where the leader scores high but the team scores low. The leader believes the system works because it works for them. The team experiences a different reality. This IS a Reality Ledger failure — demonstrated in real time.
Categories where both score low. Everyone already agrees it's broken. These are the easiest to fix because alignment already exists. Start here.
Any question where the team's standard deviation exceeds 1.2 means people experience that aspect of the system fundamentally differently. This is not a Delivery problem — it is a Reality problem. The Health Check has just demonstrated the very failure it is designed to detect.
From the ABC to the Health Check to Monday
| Step | Tool | What Happens | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| First conversation | ABC Qualifier | Executive recognizes States A→B→C. Self-qualifies. | Opening for diagnostic |
| Week 0 | Health Check — Mode A | Executive takes it alone. 5 minutes. | Their perception of the system |
| Week 1 | Health Check — Mode B+C | Team takes it anonymously. Compare to executive. | Coupling gap, blind spots, shared pain, failure mode |
| Week 2 | Facilitated session | Present anonymized data. Establish shared reality about the system itself. | One category to fix. One owner. One Operator Rule. |
| Week 3–12 | IAXAI Cycle | Full engagement: Alignment → eXecution → Accountability → Intelligence | Both ledgers strengthened. Coupling restored. |
| Week 12+ | Health Check — Mode D | Re-measure. Track coupling gap over time. | Evidence that the loop is compounding |
Four Operator Rules — what you do with the diagnosis
The Health Check diagnoses. The Operator Rules fix. Each rule maps to specific Health Check categories and IAXAI stages.
| Rule | Statement | Addresses | IAXAI Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do not start work without clear ownership | Explicit Ownership, Decision Rights | X — eXecution |
| 2 | Treat repeated questions as system failures | Shared Facts, Decision Rights, Sustainable Rhythm | I — Intelligence |
| 3 | Decisions live where the information lives | Clear Authority, No Spin | X — eXecution (the coupling point) |
| 4 | Fix causes, not moments | True Constraints, Honest Tradeoffs, Sustainable Rhythm | I — Insight |
Rule 3 — decisions live where the information lives — is the coupling principle stated as an operating discipline. It is the trunk of the tree expressed as a rule: connect the roots (where reality lives) to the canopy (where decisions are made).
What the executive walks away knowing
The Ledger Health Check measures both systems — shared truth and owned action — and the gap between them. The gap is the coupling. When the gap is large, previous interventions plateau because the untreated system pulls the treated one back. The three failure modes (Paralysis, Chaos, Firefighting) tell you which system is weaker. The four Operator Rules tell you what to do about it. The IAXAI cycle tells you in what order. The whole thing takes 5 minutes to diagnose and 12 weeks to address structurally. And when it's done, the organization can read its own ledgers and run the cycle independently.