Riding the high rollers
Developing a team to thrive on change
Helen Pattinson, Head of Direct Marketing at UNICEF reviews her experiences of leading her team in challenging times, using Sharpstone Skinner to facilitate sessions and guide her through some of the more turbulent stages of team development.
I knew of and had worked with Sharpstone Skinner in my previous two organisations: they would always be my first choice recommendation for impactful training, team days and leadership advice. They guarantee great results and they don’t disappoint.
When I took over as Head of Direct Marketing for UNICEF, a major international agency, I knew I had my work cut out: a talented team with bags of energy but we needed focus and we were under a great deal of pressure to deliver. Sharpstone Skinner have always taught me not to neglect my own or my team’s development for the sake of short term gain, so I was determined to use them to help me capture the team’s purpose, focus our message, determine our priorities and plan how we met our next set of objectives. We did this via a series of team sessions, designed to get real work done as well as re-invigorate team spirit.
The success of these sessions rest heavily on the skill of the facilitator and of great value to me was the expert facilitation I was able to source in Sharpstone Skinner. They are masters of their craft - motivating and inspiring, whilst being wise and sensitive too – you know they will keep everything totally confidential – so you feel you can tell them all you need to for the sessions to work.
They took us through a robust team development process, where we were able to reflect on the changes we had been through, learn from and let go of any bad experiences and use our strengths to move forward. They introduced us to Insights – a behavioural model to help us understand ourselves and the dynamics of the team better. Sharpstone Skinner used the Insights model in a way that was non-threatening but had a huge impact on our understanding of ourselves and our relationships outside the team. We came away with a common language as well as numerous practical strategies on how to manage relationships better.
From those session came a clear set of actions that I am pleased to say are even now bearing fruit. Many team development companies fall down on application – how you can put any learning into practice and see results that have an impact. Sharpstone Skinner are particularly good at this, supplying us with great tips on how to drive forward action plans and keep learning points live once everyday office life resumes.
I enjoy working with Sharpstone Skinner and so does my team. We laugh with them, learn from them and emerge from their sessions stronger and better able to meet our next set of challenges.
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