UHBW Exec Team Development
Challenge
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston has faced numerous challenges in recent years. In addition to recovering from Covid and managing the elective backlog, the acute sector continues to grapple with workforce burnout, rising vacancies, high footfall in their emergency departments and delays in discharging patients safely.
For UHBW these challenges were also set against the backdrop of a merger process, the need to fully embed the new ‘Patient First’ continuous improvement methodology across the organisation, and a significant number of changes to the composition of the Exec Team.
Programme
CoCreate was asked to support the Executive Team as they navigated this period of change and uncertainty. We commenced the development work with each member of the Executive Team completing the iEQ9 Psychometric tool, which illuminates our (often subconscious) motivations and drivers.
Enabling team members to share their iEQ9 Enneagram types with one another built strong foundations of trust and understanding, whilst also developing a shared leadership language across the Executive Team. We used their iEQ9 Team Report to develop a clear picture of their strengths, weaknesses, risks and potential blind spots.
Introducing the Three Horizons framework enabled the team to surface hopes and fears about the future they were working towards, identifying some key ‘dilemmas’ that required further exploration. A key element of the iEQ9 report is the way it illuminates the preferred conflict styles for each type. Introducing our ‘Four Domains of Psych Safety’ framework provided team members with a shortcut into more effective debate and productive conflict with one another.
We know from experience that applying development insights into day-to-day working can be difficult. The CoCreate team therefore observed the Leadership Team in their day-to-day work, enabling us to provide high quality feedback to the team on how they worked together. This process supported the team to translate their learning into concrete action more effectively.
Client experience
CoCreate’s approach is very much built on open and honest dialogue and diagnosis of strengths and derailers in the team. The OD model and techniques they use give validity and confidence without being too onerous.
Eugine Yafele – Chief Executive, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston
This has enabled the team to connect and, in a very supportive but direct way, call out issues for exploration and celebration. Having partnered with several OD consultants before, CoCreate brings fresh insights and approaches that have helped my team to accelerate development.
