Case Study

Improving Team Effectiveness

The Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust was founded in memory of 4 year old Grace Elizabeth Kelly who passed away in 2014.  The vision of the Trust was born from the inspiration that Grace imparted on all those she met.  She was a compassionate and caring little girl, always looking after others before herself.  The Trust is now making a difference to other children and families whilst fulfilling Grace’s wish of helping others.  It was founded in 2016 and has evolved into a current team of 7 who work hard to raise awareness of childhood cancer signs and symptoms.  They produce educational resources for parents and clinicians, provide support to families and fund research into rare cancers of childhood.

Their journey so far…

1. Introduction to Insights Discovery
We started with a fun and uplifting team session to introduce everyone to Insights Discovery, colour preferences, how to flex communication and recognising the differences in working styles in the team. Following the training, everyone committed to sharing their profiles with each other and to meet up to discuss their similarities and differences with a view to devising specific actions for personal development.

2. Performance Enablement training for the managers
The three managers in the team were keen to improve their conversations in 121s and appraisals. As a small, close knit team, it was always important for everyone to flourish and be their best versions of themselves and the managers recognised they wanted to maximise the opportunities for this through great coaching and empowering language. This session included learning lots of practical techniques with the promise we would be meeting up again to practice them!

3. 121 practice sessions with the managers to enable great Performance in others
These were great confidence-building sessions. It simply isn’t enough to learn things during a training session –techniques need to be practised to become embedded into great habits. The key things we practised were great coaching techniques including questioning, positive reframing and challenge and most importantly slowing the conversation down so as not to provide the answers and to replace this habit with enabling others to find the answers themselves.

4. Team development session on Personal Effectiveness
The team had identified this as a particular need as they found they were often being ‘busy’ and not ‘effective’ – rushing between tasks and not being deliberate in their planning and dedicating time to specific activities. We utilised Stephen Covey’s fantastic model to examine the difference between urgency and importance – playing a game of bingo to help embed the learning. The rest of the session looked at developing personal actions, the first of which was to ban the word ‘busy’! We all agreed that ‘being busy was not a measure of our effectiveness’!

5. Team behaviours in line with the GKCCT Values
Building on their great team spirit, the Trust wanted to develop their own set of behaviours behind each of their amazing values which permeate into everything they do.
• Dedication – in the fight against childhood cancer
• Passion – to bridge the gap between families and professionals
• Knowledge and Innovation – we will leave no stone unturned
• Empathy – we really do understand.
Working together, all their ideas were pulled together and the team themselves decided on the behaviours they wanted to experience with each other and would hold each other to account for these plus use them in their 121 and appraisal meetings.

We have now worked with Liz a number of times, and it is amazing how much we have all learned and moved forwards in such a short time. Thank you Liz, you have made such a difference to all, both in terms of how our office and team works together – you instill confidence and enthusiasm in the people you work with which is so important.

Dr Jen Kelly, CEO, Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust

Liz is a brilliant mentor and her personality shines through her teaching sessions. Her sessions are fun and have a great mix of theory and practical based activities to get you thinking. Liz has a fantastic way of presenting that keeps you interested in what she is saying. She is fabulous, thank you so much for everything you have taught us.

Sarah Tarry, Family Support Team Lead

I found Liz extremely approachable from the first moment I met her and for me, working with someone I feel comfortable with is really important.  I knew the team would also get on well with Liz which means she will get the best out of our team.  Liz’s energy and enthusiasm is also empowering and so engaging, I always feel more positive and able to tackle anything after I have spent time with her.

Emma Williams, Charity Operations & Fundraising Manager

From my perspective, it has been lovely to work with a small, local charity which does some brilliant work with children and their families.  They are small enough for me to see a direct impact resulting from the positive work we’ve done together with both the team and the managers.  I’ll be continuing to support them as they grow as their on-going success will be even more dependent on the effectiveness of the team and the leadership team inspiring others.

If you’re intrigued about the use of Insights Discovery in your team – including developing self awareness, team effectiveness, enabling a growth mindset and encouraging creativity, please do contact me for further information.

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