Self-Administered Team Health Check

This workshop is designed to be used as a tool by any team that wants to run a health check on the way their team is functioning.

It focusses on both task and maintenance. Task means getting stuff done. Do you achieve your goals? Maintenance means how you get stuff done eg looking after the team, the people in it and the systems and processes that keep the team alive and developing. Is everyone on board with the Principles and Values? Do they understand where the team fits in the whole movement and where they fit in the team? Are they comfortable enough and enabled to be brave and step out of their comfort zone? Are there any issues under the surface that need to be addressed?

The workshop is designed to be flexible. It can be done as a whole at one sitting or it can be broken up into several different activities which can stand alone. It can be done in a face-to-face setting or online. One or two team members can facilitate. Someone should take notes. A follow-up meeting may be needed to decide on actions arising from the workshop.

Facilitators may need to have available XR Principles and Values and relevant team documents such as mandate, agreed strategy, and designated roles.

1. Welcome to the Workshop

Regenerative Culture Reminder, Lighting the Children’s Fire,

Check-in go round: (Names, pronouns, roles, a word or animal that conveys how each person is feeling)

Is there anything anyone needs to help them participate?

Benefits: gives everyone a chance to become present, remember what is important and ask for anything they need, establishes a brave space.

2. Purpose of the Workshop

A time to pause and reflect together, review how it is going, check if there is anything you need to change. It looks at group maintenance as well as task performance. It gives everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings about your team working, identify team strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, issues to be addressed in the future.

Benefits: clarifies that this workshop is for everyone to contribute to improving team working, identifying rather than solving any problems (this is done as a follow up).

3. Individual extended Check-In: Life-story in 3 minutes: “How I got to this point”

A facilitator demonstrates the process, picking out key factors that led to them being in this team at this time. Strictly timed.

Breakout rooms. Small groups so that everyone gets three minutes to tell their story.

Feedback to full meeting: respect confidentiality, feedback on how that exercise was for you, what did you learn about yourself, any insights or discomfort. No note-taking.

Benefits: everyone is valued equally, gives a chance to get to know others as people with lives and history outside XR, reminds individuals of their own motivation, what they believe is important, why they are in this team.

4. Principles and Values

Facilitator displays or shares copy of XR Principles and Values

• Which ones shine through in this team?

• Which ones get overlooked?

Responses are recorded eg in the meeting chat.

Benefits: reminder of XR Principles and Values and their relevance to healthy team working. In every team there will be differences of opinions, views, styles, personalities, energy etc. That is healthy. Principles and Values are different. Shared values play a major part in holding a team together.

5. Mandate and Strategy

Facilitator displays the team’s mandate or purpose, agreed strategy and the designated roles within the team.

Discussion: Have you looked at this recently? (wavy hand responses) How does this fit together? Are there gaps?

• Everyone considers what they bring to the team and how that contributes to the team’s performance of its task.

• What are the team’s current priorities?

• Does anything need updating?

Responses to these questions are recorded.

Benefit: reminder of team’s responsibilities in the Self Organising System, opportunity to review how well the written purpose fits with team members’ sense of direction and commitment.

6. Successes

Where has the team done well, either in tasks or in team maintenance?

Brainstorm all the successes, big and small.

Responses are recorded. We use a copy of this Gathering Succeses Document.

Benefits: recalling occasions when the team did well brings gratitude, joy and hope and increases motivation to work together.

7.Issues

What has not gone so well? No team is perfect. It’s normal to have some slips and failings. If they are noted everyone can learn from them.

Give everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings citing specific examples and using the framework:

• I observed or I noticed….
• I felt……
• I needed…..

This is not a time (yet) for answering or problem solving.

Responses are noted

Benefits: everyone is listened to equally, gives an opportunity for any disappointment or dissatisfaction to be voiced in a non-violent way and acknowledged without blaming.

8.Identifying the roots of issues and next steps

Discussion: Think about what these issues mean about the way the team works. Are there themes or common threads?

Looking at the successes and issues, the Principles and Values and the documented purpose of the team, where are the strengths and where are the gaps, blind-spots or weaknesses?

• What does the team need to work on?

• Think about what you might do differently as a result of the learning from this workshop.

• How will you go about making this shift?

• What help and support do you need and where will you find it?

Next steps: who will take the lead in moving forward? When? How?

9.Closing

Check-out go round

• Say one thing you are taking away from this workshop.

Extinguish the Children’s Fire.