New
team leader Penny Cayzer and BHP IT National Operations Manager Peter
Nikoletatos both knew that high team performance was essential to keep
up with the workload faced by the “SDC” team.
The practical task was to do this in the midst of the work, with
the support of the team, and in a way that was real, rather than based
on classes and the whiteboard.
Penny
approached Team Results, having initially been part of an earlier
Simulation run for a national team of SDC supervisors two weeks earlier.
While her decision to engage Team Results was based on the
success of that earlier Simulation, the challenge this time was quite
different.
After
talking at some length with Penny and the team, and further referral to
ensure an optimal “fit” with the wider business needs of the SDC
nationally, Team Results designed a time-compressed, non-residential
Simulation that was structured to give a business result in just one and
a half days.
A further parameter in the design was that the Simulation had to
be portable, and its success reliably repeatable, in other areas of the
business around Australia.
Members
of the Melbourne Software Development Centre team met on the first
afternoon in a conference room at BHP headquarters in the city.
With little or no idea of what to expect, this six-person team
soon discovered that they were engaged in a hugely enjoyable quest
within BHP IT that accurately simulated the new-leader strategies that
worked and did not work for each individual.
As the Simulation moved into its next day at a location near
Melbourne, team members took charge of the project and used it to make
their own discoveries about handling the leadership change and all the
related issues.
These discoveries were then documented, implemented, tested and
refined as
the Simulation progressed.
“It’s
been very positive”, says Team Leader Penny Cayzer.
“At the start, people had doubts about losing time on yet
another program; but now they think it was terrific.
It was well worthwhile”.
“I
think we’ve saved at least six months of guesswork”, adds another
team member.
“The Simulation was an opportunity to get some reality on how
we want to operate, and to avoid a lot of the usual new-team mistakes
back at work.”
Adds another, “When we succeeded at the project, I was stunned
by what we could do.
I couldn’t believe we had total control, or that the end
objective turned out be so real!”
Informal
follow-ups and measurement with Team Results’ proprietary Team
Dashboard®
instrument indicate that business benefits have continued to develop.
Further follow-ups and Team
Dashboard®
measurements will follow.
National
Operations Manager Peter Nikoletatos concludes, “I think we have
finally found something that works”.
