RBS HRSS Practitioner Team Development
Maximillion was approached to design a day of team development for the Edinburgh and Manchester based HRSS Practice team, comprising project and programme manager consultants from specialist backgrounds. Against a backdrop of change and the integration of five newly appointed consultants, the intention of the offsite was to bring this newly created team together in a shared development context that promoted effective communication, trust and relationship building. Our proposition was a combination of TeamWorks In and Cartoon Creative Visioning techniques that would respond to the brief and the requirements of the group.
Event Detail
- Venue: The Marriott Edinburgh
- Style: Facilitated team development
- Format: Morning: Defining the Team – Creative Visioning workshop incorporating live cartooning techniques, Afternoon: Building the Team – Teamworks In All-a-Board session
- Guests: 18
- Duration: Full day event
Objectives
To begin the process of improving teamwork & communication across the team, the programme was required to:
- Examine the changing demands on the group – past, present & future
- Create a sense of team and trust between the individuals across the function. Clarifying, communicating, sharing and contributing to a common vision and purpose.
- Encourage participants to get to know each other, and to understand and appreciate each other’s strengths, individual team roles and functions.
- Explore and challenge assumptions and perceptions
- Promote practical implementation of quick win and medium term ideas, actions & intentions
Outline
The morning workshop addressed the issue that for many management teams it is baggage from the past which is often most prominent in people’s minds, preventing them from moving forward in an integrated and unified way. Often they distort the background picture of actions, planning and conversations being carried out in a spirit of co-operation. The session aimed to increase the extent to which the group recognised the continual change process they had experienced over the recent past and their success at adapting their behaviour to remain effective throughout the process of change. They were then able to move to an anticipation of future organisational change and an acceptance of the corresponding professional change this will necessitate. Thoughts, ideas and actions were pictorially represented in metaphor format by our cartoonist to maximise the impact of the session. Rather than capture this vital information in the form of words, outputs were captured ‘real-time’ in an extraordinary display of quick fire drawings.
Outcome
In the morning session, using the power of pictures and the group’s imaginative skills, images were produced to chart the outputs of the facilitated process. This method inspired the group to use existing learning and knowledge to create a shared and visible past, present and future. In the afternoon, the All-a-Board simulation replicated and reflected business-related, inter-personal, team and cross-team issues.
Feedback
“Helped us through what was potentially a difficult day and enabled us to lay some ghosts to rest”, “Excellent mix of reflection, sharing of the past & understanding skills/strengths of the team. Keith, Graham & Nicky worked well together to keep us in check & ensure we got the results needed”, “Excellent organisation & great fun” , “I was very impressed by Sandy who conducted the initial consultation & produced the recommended outline for the day”
RBS HRSS