EU Scientific Organisation · Nuclear Fusion · Team Effectiveness
There is a particular challenge that comes with working in an organisation full of world-class experts. These are people trained to question assumptions, demand evidence and trust data over instinct. Getting them to sit in a room and talk honestly about how they communicate, how they give feedback, and what gets in the way of the team working well together — that takes a particular kind of approach.
This client is a European Union scientific organisation working on one of the most ambitious and complex projects in human history. The people who work there are among the most highly qualified specialists on the planet. They are not easily impressed, and they don't take anything on faith.
How it started
Tony White's work here began the way most of his best work does; a phone call from a former colleague asking if he'd be interested in helping with team effectiveness. Before the work had properly started, that colleague left the organisation. A lesser engagement might have ended there.
Instead, the interim Head of HR called. The need was real, the work was sound, and they wanted to continue.
The work
The starting point was a single one-day workshop with the HR team; examining their role in the organisation and what effective communication and feedback looked like in practice. The session went well. Not because it was comfortable, but because it was honest.
In an organisation where intellectual rigour is the baseline expectation, there is no room for facilitation that skims the surface. The team wanted to go further than the agenda. They did.
Nobody sent a memo telling people to engage with this work. The referrals came because people heard from colleagues that it was worth their time.
The result
What happened next is the real story. That single workshop with the HR team generated six referrals to other teams across the organisation; each running similar sessions on team effectiveness and team dynamics. Three more teams are now in the pipeline.
In an organisation of experts; people who are professionally trained to question assumptions and demand evidence; that kind of word-of-mouth is the only endorsement that really counts.
1
Workshop. Where it started.
6+
Referrals to other teams across the organisation
3+
Further teams in the pipeline