Old state

A respected in-house legal team working at pace to high standards of quality within a fast-moving programme.  With a variety of business interfaces, the team had to play the role of experts, whilst retaining a flexibility to learn from experience and anticipate future programme needs.

The team’s identity had changed with some leavers, new members joining and existing members re-joining after leave.

What the team did to change their state

Individuals were motivated to re-establish a sense of ‘team’, examine their purpose and take action to identify and maintain attributes that would continue to serve them well. The team felt that they were in danger of becoming too immersed in the areas of the business that they support and felt that they had lost some of their connection with each other.

A bespoke two and a half event was co-designed with the team’s leader and executive assistant.  It had a blend of disclosure, feedback, experience, reflection, planning and socialising opportunities.  Whilst it was a significant commitment, the time spent together was not wasted.  Each session contributed to one or more of the outcomes the team had identified as important.

At the heart of the event was a day spent with a homeless charity.  This provided:

• an opportunity to contribute to an important local service for homeless people
• a shared team experience that enabled individuals to build new team relationships
• an opportunity to experiment with team behaviours and surface team values

New state

The team left the event with a clear understanding of what is important to them as a team and how they collectively build and maintain these attributes.

They have a shared understanding of the positive impact they have on the organisation.

They have stronger sense of team and are committed to working hard at the relationships within it.