Unpicking Team Effectiveness

Challenge

This marketing director in the sportswear industry recognised that her highly committed team had some pain points she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Committed to continuously improving the team experience and smoothing their path to success, the client wanted to invest time in the team. She had a broad sense what might be getting in the way but was open to going deep in discovery.

Solution

Discovery involved focus groups and one-to-one interviews with team members. Rather than trying to validate the leader’s view we started from a blank page and asked what was working and not. What contributed to effectiveness and what blocked it. By allowing the team to direct the discussion, what was most material emerged. Analysis and coding of the discussions enabled us to identify themes and patterns and zoom in on what was most salient.

Once we knew what we were dealing with, we were able to create actions. Interventions were light because most of the pain points were within the power of the team and leader to address. They just needed help to see the wood from the trees to help them unpick them. We designed and facilitated a couple of days for the team to come together. The aim was to amplify the already strong team dynamics and to build capabilities to adress specific pain points.