The Situation

A newly formed branch of the largest IT department in the State Government asked me to facilitate an off-site for the entire branch. We were to discuss strategic planning and prioritisation of activities in the next six-month period. However many of the personnel had come from other state government departments and brought with them the bad habits of the past. Poor motivation, lack of accountability, inattention to detail and general fear of management change meant that the group was quite dysfunctional.

The Task

The task was to focus the group on strategic priorities but it soon became clear that the problem wasn’t agreement on priorities, but the degree to which attendees would actually commit. There was a general lack of accountability and commitment to the results they were being asked to deliver.

The Action / Approach

I changed the run sheet for the day to include a section on psychological safety – the ability for people to be held responsible, be given a voice and to be trusted within the team. The discussion was wide-ranging but by the end the team realised that there was very little trust and respect in the group and without that the new department was doomed to fail. We agreed on some plans to address this interpersonal disrespect… the most simple of which was to impose strict guidelines on meeting attendance… simple things like coming on time, doing the prep and respecting the opinions of others. I delivered some additional follow-up material around Google’s “Project Aristotle” as well.

The Result

After the off-site, the Director sent a carefully worded email to all staff in the branch instructing that from now on, a $1 “late fee” would be imposed on people late for meetings. (This would go to charity at the end of the year). Also each meeting would start with a randomly selected person’s story about how they had collaborated with another staff member in the previous week – everyone should be prepared to give this anecdote.

The result of these seemingly insignificant behavioural modifications changed the tone of the branch entirely… even previously rusted-on old-school employees started to grudgingly accept that working together was the only way they could succeed… and now the branch has made a name for itself as “the place to work” inside the department. This is the power of small incremental changes that deliver measurable productivity improvements in terms of reduced employee churn, improved staff morale, and just better quality results overall.

While this success might seem insignificant in a commercial environment, in state government where there is significant resistance to change, actual lasting behaviour change from these sorts of discussion is rare, so it was particularly pleasing.