Boost staff motivation……. Improve team performance….. Optimise organisational results!
People are the key to performance in any organisation. But, of course, employees do not work in a vacuum: leaders need to ensure all the different parts of their organisation work as well together as possible to support performance.
As team and organisation development facilitators, we can assist you with this challenge.
An holistic organisational approach to performance
At Owen Morris we emphasize an overall ‘systems‘ perspective for achieving organisational performance, seeking integration across all parts of an organisation (e.g. teams, functions) and all the key capabilities and processes.
Coaching for team development
Modern team development needs much more than just sending individuals to play ‘team games’ together or be nice to each other at a ‘field’ away-day or a social event!
Research indicates that it is the ‘structural‘ elements of a team that are usually most key, for example the team’s purpose, roles, and ways of working. But to make a team really shine, it’s critical also to address a team’s ‘softer’ elements, including team-leader’s management style, relationships between team members and perceived levels of trust, openness and ‘psychological’ safety. At the same time, it’s important to consider the ‘external‘ links and relationships a team has with the rest of the organisation.
We help managers to establish new teams or develop existing teams – from small, operational teams to executive teams and Boards. We’ll look holistically with you at all the essential elements involved in your team-success and help you design and develop an overall ‘system’ for optimum team performance.
Our approach uses a tailored mix of review and development techniques, including individual 1:1 and whole-group activity.
Improving senior team & Board meetings – for better thinking and decision-making
When they meet, strong senior teams don’t become effective by accident – they operate within particular types of conditions that consistently produce clear thinking and sound decisions. These conditions include:
Good inputs: e.g: good data; diversity of people; all come prepared; freedom of thought/input Good dynamics: e.g: strong relationships; high trust/openness; people feel equal and at ease; Good discipline: e.g: focused/clear agenda; structured decision process; use of critical thinking Good chairing: e.g: draws our quieter voices; ensures balanced discussion; manages time well Place/environment: e.g: conditions are comfortable, quiet, good support aids to-hand
As an experienced Chair as well as facilitator, our senior partner Mike will help you consider and assess all these types of factor, bringing in an external ‘best-practice’ view along the way, and helping you to identify and plan opportunities for boosting effectiveness.
Improving organisational functioning and performance
At the level of the total organisation, several fundamental aspects of an organisation’s ‘health’ and how it functions can significantly influence overall performance. These typically include:.
a) Purpose & Vision; b) Strategy; c) Structure; d) Values & Culture; e) Operating Model; f) People and Jobs; g) Leadership; h) Management Systems; i) Communications; j) External links and Partners; k) Learning, Change and Innovation; l) Technology & Data; and m) Governance & Risk;
We work with an organisation’s board and/or senior exec team to jointly review, assess and discuss such organisational drivers, focussing in on particular areas of weaknesses or concern and developing ideas and solutions for making changes or improvements.
We typically employ a tailored workshop-centred methodology, together with a selection of survey/assessment tools, organisational change modelling, process design, HR interventions and training/coaching.
Group training and issue/problem workshops
As well as helping with overall organisational development, we can design and run focused group workshops for personnel to develop needed skills together or to explore in more detail specific ‘hot’ or challenging organisational issues.
Workshops can be as short as a couple of hours (perhaps as an add-on to a regular Board or team meeting) or up to a whole day. They could perhaps be as a proactive approach by leaders to improving a specific area of organisational performance or in response to a pressing problem that has arisen.
A few examples of training or development topics for such workshops:
- How to get managers to think more strategically
- How to get teams or functions in the organisation to work more collaboratively
- How to become a more ‘future-ready’ or agile organisation
- How to manage risk, change or uncertainty better in the organisation
Change management support
We can assist in turning the outputs from team or organisational workshops into firm action. Some issues may just need quite simple action steps. But more complex or strategic issues – for example, transforming an organisation’s culture – usually need more extended thinking, consultation or detailed ‘change project‘ planning. We’re here to provide flexible, tailored change support, as you need it.
Contact us
If your organisation is looking to boost the performance of any of your teams or wider aspects of your organisation overall, do get in touch and have a confidential chat with Mike.
Contact us at the office on 01994 278118 or email us via the Contact page on this website.