Organisational change through teams
Success story: Review of team structures and ways of working
A leadership team in a large blue light emergency service organisation found itself in a state of flux, with a high volume of work and clashing priorities. Its workflows were under consultation with an imminent restructure on the horizon. The team leader was hoping a review would help decide team structure, roles and responsibilities, and overall composition. To respond to a sudden uptick in work, the new team needed to be fit for purpose, cohesive and united so it could perform well in response to escalating customer demand.
Our approach
Successfully leading a team through change is hard and it presents both opportunities and challenges. To maximise benefits and minimise stress, leaders need to be organised, strategic and prepared.
To give the team leader insight into the team’s effectiveness we utilised our teamSalient® diagnostic tool. We were able to benchmark the team against others operating in similar ecosystems. This granular approach was very informative and useful to the team leader in structuring next steps.
The results
The evaluation showed the existing team to be reasonably effective and performing well given high workloads and recent changes. This validated the team’s efforts, leading to a more positive attitude about potential changes. Our award winning team diagnostic tool, teamSalient® identified agility and creativity as some of the team’s key strengths, and helped the group understand how to use those traits to its advantage. It also highlighted some key areas for development. Stuck in fire-fighting mode, the team was overly focussed on current issues and was inward-gazing. This made it hard to anticipate external customer needs. The team did not always have all the information it needed to make quick decisions, leading to slower action times on important issues. Finally, strong individual results were not translating into team performance.
By documenting team dynamics, including strengths to build on and weaknesses that could be improved through a restructure, teamSalient® reinforced the leadership’s decision to go ahead with a consultation. teamGenie® helped generate an appreciation of what the consultation could achieve, and the team positively engaged with it from that point on.
Client testimonial
“Using the outcomes from the teamSalient® tool provided us with the evidence and suggestions for new ways of working which will inform how we want the senior leadership team to look, feel and operate in the future. It underlined some of our existing thinking and enabled us to focus on some key areas that will require both behavioural change for both the team leaders and team members and re-alignment of roles, responsibilities and accountable areas”.
CEO, Government agency
