Tuesday Insight - Finding a Way Forward

Well, it’s been a fascinating, turbulent week for all of us in the UK, with enough material to write a dozen blogs linked to conflict, negotiation skills, empathy and change management. My perception is, considering the ‘discussions’ on social media, that the referendum has been more divisive than any event in UK politics since the miners’ strikes of the 1980s, and perhaps longer.

You might think it’s dangerous to talk about politics here, but I believe that the referendum matters to us all, particularly in our role as trainers and managers, simply because of the strength of feeling it’s provoked and the behaviours it’s unleashed. The divisions between us, exposed by the referendum, could affect teamwork and the ability of every organisations’ people to work effectively together.

So what can we do?

Reuniting Teams

There’s masses of great material in Trainers’ Library that will enable you to re-focus people on the importance of teamwork in the workplace. There are also valuable activities that look at conflict and how to get through it.

Here’s some modules that might help you focus people on the need to work toget

her and avoid a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mindset:

And, it might be a good time to focus again on shared values. One activity you might want to consider using or adapting here is:

Card Factory - Using Vision and Values

Hate Crime

Since the referendum, there have been many reports of a 50% increase in reported hate crime in the UK. This is deeply concerning and a reminder that we need to be vigilant and to ensure a safe and comfortable working environment for all employees.

There are two aspects to this: Understanding how those in a minority

might feel, particularly in these uncertain times, and understanding the law.

For the first, I always recommend:

Land of the Nutritious - Experiences of Minority Groups

For the second, take a look at:

A Level Playing Field - Diversity Game

Focus On What Unites Us

Regardless of how we voted on the day, there are still far more similarities between the vast majority of us than differences. My thought for the day is that the teams that thrive in challenging times are those that are able to put their differences aside professionally and work toward

s a shared goal they can all believe in. Creating or redefining a shared vision, focusing on shared values and the things that unite us, can be an energising way to re-bond a team, and of course there’s loads of tools in Trainer’s Library that can help here too, including:

Creating a Shared Vision

And two little icebreaker and energisers to consider:

There really is a huge amount of material in Trainers' Library that is highly relevant to the challenges organisations face uniting a team around a common goal, and not enough space here to list them all, so for other recommendations, why not give us a call.

July 5 2016

Rod Webb

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