Our Work
We have supported teams and organisations to overcome a variety of dilemmas and challenges using The 5 x 5 Model. Read our case studies to find out more about how The 5 x 5 Model can make a difference.
'Prove Your Value'
Crisis Points, Restructuring and Team Unity
The Challenge:
We were asked to consult to a Palliative Care team who were facing a natural team restructuring with the Team Manager and a senior team member both retiring in a few months. At the same time, the team were charged by their Head of Service to become 'self-managed' and they felt the integrity of their team was under threat as they had been told to 'prove your value or face redeployment' by their Head of Service.
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The Exploration:
We met with the Palliative Care Team at a frequency of 1x weekly for three weeks (3 sessions), 1x fortnightly for a month (2 sessions), and 1x monthly for 2 months (2 sessions). We encouraged to the team to speak about their situation and how it was affecting them personally and professionally. The team expressed their concerns, worries and fears about their situation and their experience of distrust in the organisation.
The Intervention:
Using The 5 x 5 Model, we guided the team through the 5 essential team functions helping them consider how their team could be best structured to deliver the results that would 'prove their value'. Through our conversations, the team recognised the value of regular 'thinking space' as a team and this led to open, honest and transparent discussions about how they could improve their working practices.
The Result:
As the team grew closer, they began working more effectively together and collaboratively decided how they would demonstrate their worth to the Head of Services. Armed with a coherent rationale for remaining a cohesive team, a refreshed team structure with clearly identified roles and responsibilities and additional services to primary care settings, they communicated their added value to the Head of Services and successfully remained a specialist team. The Palliative Care Team stated 'The 5 x 5 Model helped us to identify our own internal strengths, which then enabled us to work on the strengths we had as a team. This focus helped us to build on our best qualities, improve our resilience and adopt a more positive mindset.'
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Uncertainty and No Way Forward
A Depleted Team and the Absence of Trust
The Challenge:
We were asked to meet with a team to help them work through some conflict that was threatening the stability of the team. The team had had 3 managerial changes over the last 2 years, and a number of team members had recently left the service, one citing the hostile work environment as the reason why they were leaving. The new team manager immediately recognised the hostile workplace and expressed her intention to resign should this toxicity remain unchanged.
The Exploration:
We met with the team members individually and listened to their concerns and experiences of the workplace before meeting the team altogether. It was clear in these initial meetings that a culture of distrust, frustration and dissatisfaction existed and that a lack of commitment characterised their working relationships together.
Upon meeting together, the team were told about The 5 x 5 Model and asked which of the 5 essential team functions they thought was most important to our initial team discussion. All team members elected to discuss Team structure and roles and responsibilities as this felt the safest subject to speak about.
While thinking about the affect multiple managers in a short space of time had on the team, it emerged that reporting pathways into the regional team were disjointed and multiple members of the team were reporting to the Regional Manager in an uncoordinated way. Deciding that this way of working was detrimental to the team, all team members agreed a new, streamlined reporting process from the Team Manager was more efficient and meant more conversations occurred between the team.
The Intervention:
During the second meeting, the team were more comfortable in addressing the hostility in the team that had caused rifts between team members and this led to an exploration of the team culture and the rules that allowed dismissive interactions to exist. Team members recalled episodes in the past where one person had been aloof during a personal conversation, which had led to others feeling defensive or hurt. Rather than addressing and resolving the conflict, the team unwittingly permitted hurtful conversations to go unchallenged, which had led to a culture of hostility.
The Results:
After 2 team consultations using The 5 x 5 Model, the team reported a 10% improvement across all 5 essential team functions. Team members reported being able to speak more openly together and stated that they were more likely to trust each other had good intentions over bad intentions. The team also felt more assured that their Manager would stay in post which provided a sense of stability that had been absent for a number of years.
