Insight: Team Resilience

28.11.2018

Ok, we have to hold our hands up.  We (at Insight), are really good at telling other people the right way to go about doing things to ensure they get the very best out of themselves and others.  In fact, we do a great one day workshop called just that!  But how much time do we actually take- as a team, to stop, take stock and re evaluate how we’re really doing?  In truth, not often enough.

Time to practice what we preach.

Back in the hazy days of summer, we spent half a day with one of our lead consultants – Business Psychologist, Resilience renaissance man and friend of old, Paul Chudleigh.

What was this going to be like?  Were we experiencing this as a client would?  We all agreed to park our preconceptions and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the fold.

We discussed the importance of creating a space of psychological safety – an environment where we all felt free to share our honest thoughts and experiences without fear of reprimand or judgement.

We then took time to really consider what is going on for us at work and in particular, what are our resilience boosters and drainers?  What gives us energy and motivates us to be our best and which tasks drain our energy – tasks that have to be done but don’t excite us.  How can we get a good balance of both?

This exercise helped us to articulate and establish the team we strive to be.

• Challenging – mutually pushing and supporting (poking and stroking) each other to give our very best
• Being In-sync – sharing a real commitment to our vision and values; being on the same page; operating as a knowledgeable and tight team who all ‘get it’
• Being Purposeful – reminding ourselves of our purpose; remembering why we’re here; holding in mind the real benefits we bring to our clients
• Demonstrating Passion – sharing energy and excitement; enjoying the work; taking time to recognise the great things people do; doing zingy things!
• Taking Ownership – Making the work ‘ours’ and taking responsibility for making good things happen
• Looking Out for Each Other– Paying attention to our intuitive awareness of each other’s needs; asking for help when we need it; caring for our team-mates.

We hope you see this in us and please let us know if we’re not meeting our commitments.

Highlighting individual and team strengths was a clear focus throughout the day.  It was great to dig a little into our challenges and explore some team strengths that could be applied when facing some of these issues.

We ended the session by completing an exercise that was of a similar approach to appreciative inquiry – 3 stars and a wish.  We each gave 3 stars to the team to recognise some of the positive things we do and gave a wish to outline something we could make even better.

It was a fantastic opportunity to regroup and really acknowledge the things that we are doing well – sometimes without even realising.  We all have traits that the other team members consider to be real assets and it made everyone feel valued and appreciated.  Similarly, confronting some of our challenges in this environment was really helpful as it allowed us to be completely transparent. By remaining strengths focussed, we came up with some creative problem solving ideas to implement in the future.

So, watch this space – a bigger, brighter and more resilient Insight team is coming your way!