Background
Hampshire Fire and Rescue is the largest service of its kind in the UK. As a matter of course, it responds to a range of emergencies, far greater than originally envisaged, and on an ever increasing scale. With a strong desire to give professional help, it protects an area of over 3,885 square kilometres with a population of over 1.6 million people.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service employs almost 1800 people, of which 1500 are uniformed staff. The remainder are non-uniformed support staff who are vital to the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation. To be fully effective it needs to have a committed, energetic and healthy workforce, which means that its people are critical to its success.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service called upon the expertise of our consultancy partner, t-three, to develop one of their already high-performing teams into a world class team.
Tools & Approach
Facet5 was administered to a team of 8 individuals at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. The aim was to develop and improve existing team work. Each team member subsequently received feedback on his/her individual Facet5 profile.base.
The next stage of the project saw the team members guess each other’s profile, factor-by-factor, to give evidence as to why they thought that would be the case. The five factors involved in Facet5 are:
- Will (determination, confrontation, independence)
- Energy (vitality, sociability, adaptability)
- Affection (altruism, support, trust)
- Control (discipline, responsibility)
- Emotionality (anxiety, apprehension), which interacts with the other four, affecting stability confidence and emotional state
At the end of the session, each team member stated what his/her actual score was on each of the five factors. This exercise helped the team to recognise the assumptions that they had been making about each other for many years. These assumptions, which could be faulty, often see people confusing the requirements of the job with their natural preferences, causing them to behave in a particular way.
Next, TeamScape was introduced in order to compare individual reports. TeamScape gives a powerful visual image of a team’s work style and how individuals go about resolving differences. With specialised graphics, TeamScape clearly shows how a person sees themsleves and their impact this has on others.
Results
The project enabled Hampshire Fire and Rescue to gain a better understanding of each other’s preferences and behaviours. They were also able to identify their individual strengths and risks based on their Facet5 profile. Furthermore, they were able to identify necassary action to be taken, in order to reach full potential.
Having carried out several follow-up sessions since the completion of the project, Jennifer Shipside, Consultant at t-three, has commented on the outcome, saying:
“The project has been a real success and this is now the best team in the world!”
Continue the conversation
Keen to discuss how we can support you in realising the potential of your team? Drop us a note and let’s talk!