Going Corporate
Guiding the Merging and Reorganization of Three Functions
Starting Point:
In July 2016, a centralized department was created, merging relevant functions from other departments. The new centralized department comprises 40 employees and managers who had barely worked together before. The first step was to hold a team-building workshop for the whole department. “I would like us to get to know one another personally by working through some content,” the Head of Department told us in a preliminary discussion.
Procedure:
The topics were selected by a focus group consisting of representatives from the three former functions and us, as facilitators. The focus group had big plans: “We want to know what this change means for us,” said one employee. “Now you have the opportunity to help shape our department’s strategy,” interjected the Head of Department. “Getting to know each other personally and having fun – aside from the content,” contributed a colleague. A fourth colleague wanted, “to develop something like a departmental map that we can use to show other people who we are and what we do.” Together, we came up with a workshop design which included all of that – in only 1.5 days of workshop! Through profiling sessions, colleagues found out about one another’s secret career aspirations and hidden talents. In the fishbowl, they dealt critically with the department’s reorganization. In the World Café, they put together an image of an ideal version of their department and expressed what changes were needed to make it happen. Small group sessions gave them the opportunity to work on measures and how to implement them. Along the way, they managed to build a map three yards long showing profiles of all members of the department, the intended future of the department, the contribution the new department should make and its next steps in the development process. And it wasn’t all about the content: In the afternoon, the new colleagues took one another on at Geocaching and went on to spend the evening bowling.
Results:
Participants and facilitators were excited to see the quantity and quality of results developed in such a short period of time and how the department grew visibly closer as a team. That commitment proved fruitful: In the follow-up discussion a few weeks later, the Head of Department reported several measures which were already in place. “It was a complete success! Everyone involved had fun and the workshops were the starting point for sustainable change.” The map was photocopied and put up at all the new department’s sites.
Our Tasks:
Using the focus group’s approach, we guided the department’s development before and after the departmental merger. In various workshops, we helped identify current core topics to be worked on and the results became part of a cross-hierarchy and team-wide dialogue.