Case Study
Building high performing teams in a major F.M.C.G.
Background
We were approached to develop a new team of 16, all of whom were new to their roles following a major organisational restructure. Although they were a team in name, there was minimum shared ownership of priorities. This manifested itself in the form of competition rather than collaboration.
We also found that although individuals, although highly experienced professionals in their roles, they had little experience of leading or inspiring team members.
Action
The following objectives were agreed for a team event:
- To establish how the group will work as a team
- To gain a greater understanding of the needs of each of the team members and how they can help one another
- To gain a greater understanding of the expectations the team and of one another
- To agree the team vision, where they currently are, and how to get there
- To reach a shared ownership of team priorities
This event incorporated:
- An exercise to re-introduce themselves individually to the team, encouraging them to find out more about each other
- An opportunity to ‘air their views’, establishing a team contract, which encouraged openness and honesty, gaining common ground
- Understanding where individuals wanted to be professionally and personally, knowing how far to encourage or push each other
- Agreeing a team vision, where they wanted to be collectively, understanding the potential barriers that may prevent this and how to overcome these
- Roles and responsibilities to achieve their goals and practical steps to improve the team working
- Commitments collectively and individually
Outcome
The team now plan and prioritise their work together, which allows them to support each other, and be a more productive unit. This has also taken a great deal of pressure off of certain individuals, allowing for the workload to be spread according to skills and experience.
They have also worked on their development in line with their aspirations and can now cover for each other, making no-one indispensable. We have since facilitated subsequent events as the team develops, and are continuing to take the team through the stages of reaching a high performing team
