Anika worked with Invigor8 LLP to help transform the teams in Camden’s Adult Social Care department.

 

WHAT WE SET OUT TO ACHIEVE

In November 2015 we met with the manager of two Day Centres to improve the way they worked together. There had been some key issues around cliques forming, individuals working against each other and a lot of resentment building.

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WHAT WE DID WITH THE TEAM

We designed a series of 3 x 90 minute sessions and ran those with the team over a 10 week period in the slot reserved for their regular team meetings. In each of the sessions, the team started off relatively quietly, warming up as the meeting progressed, building trust with us and with each other. We also worked with and coached both the manager and senior supervisor throughout the process.

 

In summary, during the three sessions we worked with the team to:

• air some of the pent up frustrations between team members

• continue to bring the teams closer together

• understand the teams’ ambitions and common purpose

• highlight what they can do to improve the way they work together

• define personal pledges to take forward

 

As a result of this work the team produced a team-working improvement template defining what they intend to start and stop doing, as well as what they want to do more of and less of, and suggestions on how to help each other move into the Adult-Adult space and their team pledges.

 

THE JOURNEY

Since first starting work with the team in February 2016, the vibe changed significantly and a lot of factors have played a role in this:

1. The team has increasingly built up trust with their manager and he has continued to work hard behind the scenes to listen to individuals, build their skills, help them resolve issues amongst themselves, and intervene where necessary.

2. The manager has also been instrumental in resolving the toxic environment one team member was causing. Although there are still some issues, the team is noticeably calmer and more cohesive.

3. The senior supervisor has also taken on board comments we have made on how to change his role, so that he becomes more involved in the day to day operations, improves communications between himself and the team and supports team members to resolve issues amongst themselves

4. The sessions played a key role in improving the situation and have been a catalyst to releasing pent up frustrations and channelling them into productive commitments between team members to progress and move on.

 

In the last session we ran, there was an overwhelmingly positive vibe about the team and a genuine desire from participants to ‘forgive and move on’ since we first got together. This resulted in pledges being made by each team member and individuals committing to telling others how they feel honestly and wanting others to be honest with them too, wanting to own (and correct) their own mistakes and move forward, value others and work together to deliver for the customers.

In addition, a number of things were raised by the team as a whole that they wanted to improve on. For example, they recognised that they rarely said positive things to each other, so have agreed to give more praise and recognition for a job well done. They agreed to appreciate and respect each other more, stop holding grudges or taking sides and communicate regularly and honestly with each other.

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