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Over the past seven years consultants at Aston OD have developed a huge amount of experience in supporting organisations to improve performance and implement culture change through the implementation of Team Based Working.

Team based working is a philosophy or attitude about the way in which organisations work - where key decisions are made by teams of people rather than by individuals and where those decisions are made at the closest possible point to the client, patient or customer.

The benefits of this way of working:

• Team based organisations respond quickly and effectively in changing environments.
• Teams enable organisations to learn more effectively.
• Teams promote improved quality management and are more creative.
• Teams promote radical change.
• Information is processed more effectively through teams.
• Interventions that create autonomous work groups have beneficial effects upon financial performance.
• Staff who work in teams report higher levels of involvement and commitment that they have lower stress levels.
• Employees working in effective teams have lower stress levels.

We know that each organisation is different and that effective change programmes are tailored to meet specific organisational outcomes.

We have developed a robust implementation framework. This provides the ground map for the work that we do with key staff to create a truly effective change intervention - together we plan the journey through unique territory to the desired destination.

Key features on the ground map are:

Gaining the commitment of Senior Managers

Through their involvement in the identification of the goals and measurement criteria for the implementation of Team Based Working.

The development of an Advisory or Steering group to:

• Identify the current and required team structures
• Monitor organisational support systems
• Identify local issues that will need to be factored into the design of the programme
• Develop a plan for programme delivery - identifying the first group of teams
• Develop a communication plan for the programme

Identify required changes to Organisational Support Systems

This can be carried out using available systems and climate audit tools to supplement information already available, for example from staff attitude surveys.

Identify teams and team leaders

Team Based Working development programmes work best where participants understand the rationale for their team's involvement in the programme. It is therefore important to be clear about the criteria for setting team boundaries and to have processes for identifying team leaders.

Team Leader Development

Team Leaders have a crucial and specific role in developing Team Based Working. They will require support to enable them to:

• Identify the benefits of team based working that are relevant to their own team
• Set targets for the development of effective team working within their team
• Identify personal styles and behaviours that will enhance team effectiveness
• Develop skills to support the development of team based working within the organisation

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