Sage Portfolio Group Team Systems Work Case Study

“From Good to Great: An already successful team gains valuable insights”
May 2007

About the client

The business profiled in this case study is a fast-paced retail franchise of a continent-wide company, voted number one in its category in the local newspaper’s “Reader’s Choice” awards and determined to be the most profitable store in Canada for the first quarter of 2007. The franchise has less than 50 employees, and has been in operation for 13 years.

Team systems work

The franchise owners were pleased with the success of the business and the strength of their team, but recognized that there were some changes that the management team was experiencing and challenges that lay ahead. Team Systems Work was considered an appropriate approach because:

1. it is a model that does not assume team crisis or conflict, but can build upon existing strengths;
2. the team establishes group norms that are carried forward in day-to-day interactions;
3. client-specific, real-life business challenges are addressed;
4. it easily adapts to novel and evolving needs as articulated by the team during the sessions.

Client goals

Sage Portfolio Group assisted the franchise owners in determining three specific goals for the sessions. The first goal was to welcome and successfully integrate new members of the management team. Second was to openly discuss the perceived impact of a recent business challenge: the arrival of direct competition in their neighbourhood. Third was to ensure that the team felt secure, aligned and committed to a common goal so that energy could be expended in positive, productive directions.

Format & Location

Because of the goal to ensure a welcoming and supportive arrival for new team members, Sage Portfolio Group proposed two sessions: one 90 minute session prior to the new team members starting, and one day-long session two weeks after the new hires had joined the team.

Session One was held at the store, and was an opportunity for the “old team” to identify who they were as a team, as well as to experience what it would be like to join as a new member. The Team Systems Worker walked the group through an exercise where each team member had to exit the store and enter as if s/he was arriving for his/her first day of work.

Session Two was held at the franchise owner’s home, a location specifically chosen to be welcoming, intimate and set apart from routine work concerns. Lunch was catered. The systems worker took the team through the following exercises:

1. “Designing our Alliance” – the team identifies how they will interact with each other, and the role the worker will have during the session.
2. “Constellating a System” – a proprietary Team Systems Work exercise in which team members visually represent their team and their place in it, both as it exists and as they would like it to be.
3. “Trading Places” – a de-brief of the previous exercise, during which the team members discuss internal and external roles, and how these can be shared among team members
4. “Land’s Work” – another proprietary exercise, where each member of the team describes the impact of a business challenge from the perspective of every aspect of the business.

Outcomes

a. Insight into a newcomer’s needs. A role playing exercise enabled the existing management team to understand the feelings of those upon first arriving at the store, including new employees and members of the general public. The team became conscious of the assumptions that come from long-association and familiarity, be it with people or places. As a result of the exercise, the team assigned a designate to wait at the front door to welcome the new manager on her first day.

I got up and went to the front door and I had butterflies in my stomach. I walked in and just stood there, not knowing what direction to move. I thought, ‘Wow, this is how, not just [the new manager] feels, but anybody who walks into my store.’ It made an impact.
-Franchise owner I

“It was important to think about how we welcome new team members and think about how that person would feel coming in the front door. That sort of opened my eyes for all new staff and was beneficial.”
-Franchise owner II

“The first exercise was awesome because we got to see what it was like to come into the store for the first time. That was just mind blowing.”
-Store manager I

b. A group agreement. The team drafted a document at the start of the second session, which outlined the expectations that group members had of each other. During the session, the agreement created a sense of security that encouraged honest contribution without fear of reprisal. Because the agreement was developed by the team and referred to principles of good interpersonal interaction that are not bound by time or place, a copy was left for the team to use in the future. The document holds team members accountable to each other based on group values, and is flexible to adapt to changes in circumstances and participants.

“They decided how they wanted to work together, they created a group agreement and they’re going to continue to use that in the future. To use it, to read it every week, to add to it and change it as the players change.”
--Team Systems Worker

“When [the team systems worker] asks the questions, the way she asks it says you can talk here, everything’s sacred here, you’re safe. When you’re doing your performance review you say, ‘Ooh, can I say this here? I want to keep my job’”.
-Store manager I

d. Increased cohesiveness and alignment of team. Team members who were already, as one manager put it, “finishing each other’s sentences” gained a greater understanding of each other and how each contributes to the team dynamic. Individuals recognized the similarities and differences between themselves and others on the team, as well as the impact these attributes have on the team as a system. Team members were able to formally recognize the positive contributions of their peers. They were also able to clear up misconceptions and preconceptions about how they do—and would like to—work together. The team learned that some contributions, which were previously attributed to particular personalities on the team, were in fact objective roles on the team and could be played by any member. In discussing roles, team members practiced seeing the business from different perspectives and identifying roles using a common language. The fact that the team systems work occurred when the business was doing well gave team members confidence in an organizational commitment to excellence.

“I liked the fact that everybody finally figured out who I was. I’m the only guy manager. What had happened was people thought I was tough. Actually, I’m people oriented. I liked that we got to speak our mind pretty freely. Not to say you don’t normally, but you hold back when you only have 15 minutes in a management meeting.”
-Store manager I

“A big thing for me from that session was to recognize that I need to find an in-between, to trust a little bit in order to develop my team. Some other things you already know, like listening to your team-mates or how your team is most productive, but to hear them again was important. It taught me that it’s always something we have to work on. That we have to attain our goals and if we don’t we have to ask ourselves why. Are we reaching those goals together? It made me realize if we don’t, we have to figure out why and move on.”
- Store manager II

“Now I understand our roles as separate from our character or personality and can better recognize why something is happening. It’s not just someone being goofy or controlling or, like people thought about me, being hard-headed.”
-Store manager II

“I got to see how people view us in our role and it gave me insight into their perception of where we stand and what we do, especially with the competition coming in. Their fears came out. It gives you an insight as to whether you’re on the same page with an employee, which is useful from a promotability perspective.”
--Franchise owner I

f. Strengthening of the company brand. Use of a looming real-life business challenge allowed team members to express fears, receive reassurance, and refocus on the substance and stability of their business values and product.

“We are who we are and we’re going to make sure that we put the best foot forward with our brand. We’re not a trend. You have to be strong in who you are. It doesn’t make sense to have angst towards it or fight it, because then it splinters within your company’s walls…Our job is just to be the best we can do in our neighbourhood with the tools that we’re given.”
-Franchise owner

©2007 Sage Portfolio Group. Please distribute this only in its entirety.