No two teams are the same, so we do not provide “off the shelf” team building solutions. The current climate, where teams are reforming and people creating new and different ways of working, is the right time to optimise the team and bring new, fresh motivation, confidence, and commitment to the work in hand.
We have 25 years of experience in team building and team development within the public sector and we work with each team to create a process or event that is right for them.
We have 25 years of experience in team building and team development within the public sector and we work with each team to create a process or event that is right for them.
Is your team showing any of the following symptoms?
Performance
Symptoms: Lack of results, reduced performance, lack of alignment and role clarity.
Is your team’s output and quality at the optimal level? Has absenteeism increased? Teams operate better if they are clear about roles and role boundaries. In the current climate, isolation and remote working has reduced performance in some teams by over 20%.
Operations Planning and Strategy, Quality
Symptoms: Lack of alignment and direction, no buy-in to the bigger picture.
Effective team working requires clarity about the overall direction as well as individual workplans and projects. Working on this aspect can align team members and reduce silo mentality, and silo working. Has the team had time to talk and reflect on its mission and mandate? Do they know where they are going, and have they considered how to measure their results?
Communication
We have all been caught up in poor communication from time to time. The rise in remote working has created greater possibility of misunderstanding due to unclear objectives, limited feedback, unpredictable work environments and less collaboration. These conditions create unwanted instances of how we are seen and possibly judged by our teams. Examples might be poor leadership, demoralised staff, the inability to embrace cultural diversity in the workplace and more. Poor communication in the team can be a slow poison.
Resilience
Resilience is often termed as the personal ability to bounce back to a former positive state.
This sounds like a wonderful skill, but we are not born with this; it’s built over time, experience, and our interactions with others. In turn, our ideas about being resilient are unique. We function better when others understand that we respond to stress and adversity differently.
Conflict
Common causes of team conflict include incompatible work styles, competition over resources, failure to follow norms, poor communication, and performance deficiencies. Other incidents of conflict arise when there is a lack of information, undeclared values, mismatched interest, and eroded relationships. Research shows that using appreciation, better dialogue and forming a shared purpose increases harmony and decreases the possibility of conflict happening. There are also conflict resolution strategies that can be learned by team managers and team members to help create a better working environment.
Culture
Symptoms: Cultural conflicts between team members, based on different expectations and different interpretations of comments and actions can result in a lack of respect for different cultures. Paradoxically, both the highest performing and the lowest performing teams are culturally diverse. Diversity in the team offers strength in decision making, recognising different perspectives and being creative, but, if not addressed positively, miscommunication and different perspectives can lead to obstacles to effective team working.
Capacity to adapt
In an unpredictable environment, the capacity for a team to adapt can mean the difference between success and failure. Being adaptive means more than just changing the course of the work the team is doing. Often, we avoid change unconsciously – not because we don’t want to adapt, but because our fight or flight reflexes take over. We know it’s the right (and obvious) thing to do...until you have to do it. It takes some effort to recognise the psychological dynamics at play which will thwart your efforts if they are unchecked. The key question to ask yourself and your colleagues is: how might we make ourselves increasingly ready for whatever comes next?
Performance
Symptoms: Lack of results, reduced performance, lack of alignment and role clarity.
Is your team’s output and quality at the optimal level? Has absenteeism increased? Teams operate better if they are clear about roles and role boundaries. In the current climate, isolation and remote working has reduced performance in some teams by over 20%.
Operations Planning and Strategy, Quality
Symptoms: Lack of alignment and direction, no buy-in to the bigger picture.
Effective team working requires clarity about the overall direction as well as individual workplans and projects. Working on this aspect can align team members and reduce silo mentality, and silo working. Has the team had time to talk and reflect on its mission and mandate? Do they know where they are going, and have they considered how to measure their results?
Communication
We have all been caught up in poor communication from time to time. The rise in remote working has created greater possibility of misunderstanding due to unclear objectives, limited feedback, unpredictable work environments and less collaboration. These conditions create unwanted instances of how we are seen and possibly judged by our teams. Examples might be poor leadership, demoralised staff, the inability to embrace cultural diversity in the workplace and more. Poor communication in the team can be a slow poison.
Resilience
Resilience is often termed as the personal ability to bounce back to a former positive state.
This sounds like a wonderful skill, but we are not born with this; it’s built over time, experience, and our interactions with others. In turn, our ideas about being resilient are unique. We function better when others understand that we respond to stress and adversity differently.
Conflict
Common causes of team conflict include incompatible work styles, competition over resources, failure to follow norms, poor communication, and performance deficiencies. Other incidents of conflict arise when there is a lack of information, undeclared values, mismatched interest, and eroded relationships. Research shows that using appreciation, better dialogue and forming a shared purpose increases harmony and decreases the possibility of conflict happening. There are also conflict resolution strategies that can be learned by team managers and team members to help create a better working environment.
Culture
Symptoms: Cultural conflicts between team members, based on different expectations and different interpretations of comments and actions can result in a lack of respect for different cultures. Paradoxically, both the highest performing and the lowest performing teams are culturally diverse. Diversity in the team offers strength in decision making, recognising different perspectives and being creative, but, if not addressed positively, miscommunication and different perspectives can lead to obstacles to effective team working.
Capacity to adapt
In an unpredictable environment, the capacity for a team to adapt can mean the difference between success and failure. Being adaptive means more than just changing the course of the work the team is doing. Often, we avoid change unconsciously – not because we don’t want to adapt, but because our fight or flight reflexes take over. We know it’s the right (and obvious) thing to do...until you have to do it. It takes some effort to recognise the psychological dynamics at play which will thwart your efforts if they are unchecked. The key question to ask yourself and your colleagues is: how might we make ourselves increasingly ready for whatever comes next?
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Stage One: The Pulse
Use the diagnostic tool to test the pulse of your team. Each member of the team completes our online diagnostic tool, and the results are sent directly back to our team. We analyse and interpret the results to provide a ‘health check’ on critical areas for the team to address. The results of the Pulse are used to inform the design of the team development or team building intervention. Stage Two: Team Development or Team Building Based on the results of the diagnostic tool and conversations with key team members, face- to-face or hybrid workshops are designed and facilitated. For teams of 12 or fewer, we usually provide one trainer/facilitator. For teams of 13- 24 people, we usually provide two trainers/facilitators. For teams of 25 or more, or for departmental events, we usually provide three trainers/facilitators per day. Stage Three: one-to-one and group coaching We provide one-to-one or group coaching which may be delivered online (using Zoom professional or Teams) or face-to-face. One-to-one coaching Coaching is often used to support team managers or team leaders in creating their team development strategy or plan. It is also successfully deployed to support individual team members in adjusting to new ways of working or addressing issues that have not been resolved. Coaching sessions are usually between 60-90 minutes in duration and often take place every month or six weeks. Group Coaching We provide group coaching and action learning for up to 5 people from the same team. Group coaching sessions last up to 2.5 hours and may be delivered either online or face to face. |
Where we are located and where we work
Who we are:
The Development Alchemists is a small international team. We have worked in the public sector in more than 40 countries. We specialise in team building and team development, training, facilitation, and coaching. Our expertise is based on a blend of experience combined with academic rigour, using models, concepts and approaches to create engagement, storytelling and data gathering. 
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