Identity and Passport Service
Client testimonial
Executive Agency Regional Manager writes:
“In April 2008, the Service announced that it was to commence a programme of restructuring its regional office network and the first phase would be to reduce the size of the Glasgow office from 240 to 116 staff. As a consequence, the remainder of the year was hugely disruptive and very traumatic for staff in Glasgow, and it culminated in 50% of staff leaving having accepted either an offer of voluntary redundancy, early retirement or a transfer to another government organisation.
By the year end, morale of the staff that remained was at rock bottom and the office’s senior management team (SMT) decided that tangible measures had to be taken early in the new year to address this. The SMT concluded that a series of team building events involving all staff and tailored to meet the specific needs of the office would be the best way to ‘kick start’ the process of rebuilding morale and help to recreate a ‘feel good’ factor in the workplace. Several organisations were invited to tender for this project – including a few that the office had worked with in the past – but the bid that undoubtedly caught the eye was from Maximillion.
From the outset, Maximillion proved to be both flexible in approach and extremely sensitive to our needs. The Kirknewton Stables venue is magnificent – even in the snow! – and the range of events and activities on offer exceeded our wildest expectations. Staff had a ball but, more importantly, they came away from the events with their motivation and enthusiasm revitalised as well as a renewed sense of the importance of teamwork. Moreover, the positive feedback provided by staff at the conclusion of each event was unprecedented in respect of external training providers.
In conclusion, as the manager of the Glasgow office, I was absolutely delighted with the reaction of my staff to the team building activities provided by Maximillion and would have no hesitation in recommending the company to any organisation facing similar problems.”
27 April 2009
Event Detail
Dates: 27th January, 3rd & 10th February 2009
Venue: Kirknewton Stables, near Edinburgh
Style: Facilitated team development
Format:
a.m. TeamWorks Out
p.m. Kinetic Connections Followed by Thinking into Action to assist in transferring learning back to the workplace
Participants: 95 in total
Outline
The morning started with setting the context and establishing the ground rules. Pre-determined sub-teams, which were created from functional groups (Counter, Finance & Facilities, Customer Services, HR, Quality & Fraud), then participated in rotational, outdoor TeamWorks Out team challenge activities around the Kirknewton Estate. After each task, teams reviewed their own performance with the assistance of the facilitation team, identifying key learning points to take forward into subsequent tasks. At the end of the morning, teams came together within their functional groups for a debrief, where common themes and opportunities for development were identified and explored.
In the afternoon, the whole group worked on Kinetic Connections, the aim of which was for teams to work interdependently to achieve a common goal – in this case the succesful construction of a giant interconnected mechanical sculpture. As the teams worked through Kinetic Connections and its allied cerebral problem solving and creative thinking tasks, it was clear they were applying the learning from the morning session.
After the explosive grand finale of Kinetic Connections, individuals and teams were encouraged to explore the implications and applications of the day through a final Thinking into Action session.
Outcome
The results (“happy or delighted with”) of the collated participant feedback across the programme were as follows:
- Welcome – 97%
- Structure – 94%
- Relevance – 89%
- Quality of Presentation – 99%
- Content – 96%
- Exercises – 94%
The programme either exceeded or met expectations for all 95 participants.