MatchFit Methodology

Organisational change can deliver real success, but commitment needs to come from the top

Bradley Honnor explains why the effort to improve the way teams and businesses operate through leadership development programmes requires engagement from the top down.

I’m often asked how MatchFit can demonstrate the ‘why’ when I discuss a leadership programme with a new client.

The answer is fairly simple. As in any purchase, it’s important to make sure the benefits are understood. You may well think that your business performance and culture are strong, but there is always room for improvement. Can ‘good’ become ‘great’? We ask that question – the honest answer is always ‘yes’.

It’s important to realise the benefits that improving from good to great can deliver for the business and what that means for the return on your investment.

We encourage clients to consider the pain and pleasure principle. The first task is to identify where they see the pain within the business. Is it poor performance, is it attrition rates? Is the senior leadership team overwhelmed, are teams and staff working in silos?

Once the pain has been identified, we can create a programme that identifies the opportunities to enhance performance and operational excellence and delivers the solutions.

Staff remain the biggest asset to any business. If you can progress, improve, enhance and build a team or organisational culture where people can thrive and take pleasure in working, the results can be significant both in performance and staff retention.

The success of any programme, however, depends on the level of engagement both during the programme itself and subsequently over time.

And that engagement has to start from the top. Senior management needs to lead by example and drive the process. More importantly, they need to been seen to drive the process. If the process is not seen to be top of the leadership agenda, it will not be top for the wider employee group.

When clear and engaged leadership is happening, we see nothing but good outcomes. When it is not, there is a significant chance that what we are trying to achieve with the client will fail.

Giving staff the time to succeed

As well as enjoying senior-staff sponsorship, the programme needs to be relevant to those participating, and to fit around their working days. People do not want to spend weeks out of the workplace, or away from their desks. The programme must recognise attendees have a day job to do and be structured to accommodate this.

Engagement also needs to go beyond the session itself. There needs to be the willingness to understand:

what changes are being suggested
why they have been suggested
the difference they will make to the individual and business and,
why it is important to put those into practice after the sessions have been completed.

Maintaining momentum post programme

Leadership development and driving change does not finish once the programme has come to an end. Maintaining momentum is vital to delivering success.

At this stage, MatchFit cannot directly influence the actions of the leadership team, so we advise creating a record of what the business and individuals say they are aiming to achieve and the actions required to do this.

That list needs to be focused and achievable. It’s better to have three or four specific actions that are more likely to be achieved, than 25 points which will be far harder to manage and record.

Team ethos and mutual accountability are also critical at this stage. Where these are strong, each member will feel responsible for playing their part and not letting the rest of the team down. Having multiple forums in which the actions can be reflected on, and success acknowledged and celebrated by the teams and wider business, is also important.

When there is strong leadership from the top, a culture of accountability, and pride and an understanding of the tools and techniques needed to affect positive change, then success is far more likely to follow.

Organisational change can deliver real success, but commitment needs to come from the top Read More »

Keeping the CLIMB momentum going – an Interview with Tim Forman

MatchFit Methodology /

In a recent interview, MatchFit Consultant Tim Forman discussed how he has worked with the Civil Service HR Casework Team to deliver a CLIMB programme to the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee (OSPT) SLT (senior leadership team). The CLIMB programme is a multi-stage initiative that aims to improve performance and cohesion of an organisation. It includes interventions that cover technical and phenomenological aspects, as well as the CLIMB stages, which are designed to promote self-awareness, self-management, and team collaboration among others, to develop culture and achieve high performance.

This article highlights a new pilot project, called , aimed at keeping the positive momentum from the CLIMB by providing bridging support and coaching.

“I started working with the OSPT in the summer of 2021,” Tim explains. “They completed a six-stage leadership CLIMB programme and have commenced the Shadow ExCo programme for 11 future leaders. In conjunction, we will be delivering a new pilot programme called RE3 aimed at continuing the momentum of the CLIMB.”

“Maintaining momentum after completing a leadership programme can be a challenge. That’s not always easy for an organisation on its own,” he says. “It’s often the case that once a programme has ended, the day-to-day stuff takes priority, and some of those valuable activities undertaken during the CLIMB pause, or timelines start to slip, because people are ‘busy’. The idea of RE3 is to provide a further step in order to keep the momentum going. We look at the results, refocus on the aims, and reinforce the skills, capability and confidence gained – hence RE3!

He praises the OSPT for their engagement and participation in the CLIMB leadership programme, which has led to excellent initiatives being taken with great results. “They have been exceptionally good across the senior leadership team, who are split into different teams. The work they’ve been engaged with has helped bring those teams together and break down silos, with lots of development actions coming out of it. They’ve been strong advocates, and very committed to following through on the actions that they’ve agreed to during the CLIMB programme. They’ve seen some very positive outcomes as a result,” he said.

Tim emphasises the importance of accountability in achieving these results, saying, “I’m sure we’ve all had the experience where an organisation decides they need to do something about issue A, understands why they need to do it and agrees on what they need to do. Then things come to a halt, because that accountability is the bit that is missing.”

“With the OSPT, they’ve been very clear on their priorities stage by stage in the programme and that has shown in the outcomes and the engagement of their people. They’ve really enthused about the ‘why’ of what they’re doing, to the extent that as the CLIMB came to an end, they were already in discussions with MatchFit around what they can do next and how we could keep that going. And the products of those conversations are that they’ve invested in the Shadow ExCo programme, and a pilot programme has been developed, which is RE3.”

The RE3 pilot project with OSPT is an exciting development for MatchFit, and Tim sees it as a valuable tool for maintaining momentum and achieving long-term results after completing a leadership programme.

He says “Whereas a standard post-programme check-in is a bit arbitrary, with RE3 there is a framework around which to keep the momentum going. So for example, if we look at the first of the RE3 elements, the results, the HR Technical Consultants are going to do an organisation-wide survey across OSPT to understand the impact of the technical and phenomenological interventions, and the six CLIMB stages.”

Apart from the survey, the results phase also includes a case audit, which will compare the current cases with those from before the programme’s implementation. The audit helps assess the impact of the programme on case handling.

At the refocus stage, two-way discussions are held with the key stakeholders to look at the survey and the case audit comparison and gain an understanding of OSPT’s perspective, refocus the client’s aims and objectives, highlight successes and identify areas for improvement.

Tim continues “There is also a wellbeing check led by the HRTC through 10 one-to-one meetings, and a workshop where we’ll talk about the impact both personally and professionally. And then the refocus will highlight wins, what’s been achieved and what’s still outstanding in terms of next steps.”

The final phase is reinforcing, consisting of a three-module coaching programme led by the HRTC. The aim of this is to upskill OSPT staff in coaching skills for the coaching and development of their own people. They’ll have a phenomenological toolbox of practical tools tailored to the needs of their clients. MatchFit then run a combined mediation and positioning session with the senior leadership team and the wider first line management team.

“This is an exciting phase,” says Tim. “We run sessions with the first line management team, combined with the SLT, where they are encouraged to understand one another’s perspectives, and, typically, reinforce the cultural changes and high performance identified throughout the CLIMB programme.”

Outcomes

In the beginning stages of any programme, there can be a degree of scepticism in some quarters. But the realisation that a senior leadership team are keen to share the room with line managers and work together, and the opportunity for line managers to enjoy a safe space to really get down into the details some of the subjects they wanted to talk about, quickly dispel any hesitancy.

Tim says “OSPT fully embraced the CLIMB programme, and their commitment to actions and belief in the process grew from early uncertainty, resulting in the achievement of quality outcomes. There was genuine appetite to develop the programme for the wider management cohort and their teams. The programme included a range of judiciously selected interventions, and the tremendous take-up across OSPT demonstrated.”

“The strength of our programmes is that we get to work people over a period of time,” he continues. “This is why recognising that every minute they spend with me, or in a one-to-one, or in coaching is time they’re not doing something else. So it’s got to be inherently valuable. If we have three hours in the room, with 10 people, that’s 30 hours of their time. There have to be top quality outcomes to make that 30 hours more valuable than anything else they will be doing in that time.”

Tim concludes “It’s important to highlight the commitment delivered by OSPT in wanting a continuation of the work the HRTC have been doing with them. It’s exciting for us at MatchFit to develop the RE3 pilot to support the growth, keep up the momentum gained in the CLIMB and develop leaders for the future. In doing so, we have the opportunity to learn from it with them and develop a programme we can share more widely. It’s a win-win!”

You can read the previous interview with Tim here

Keeping the CLIMB momentum going – an Interview with Tim Forman Read More »

The Phenomenological Core of CLIMB

MatchFit Methodology /

An interview with Bradley Honnor

In this article, MatchFit MD Bradley Honnor talks all things ‘phenomenological’ and how this philosophy is at the very heart of MatchFit and the CLIMB people development programme.

“Phenomenology is about the individual experience that each and every one of us has,” says Bradley. “If we all go to the same party, we will all have a different experience. Everyone might say they enjoyed it, but in reality we’ve each had a different evening to the others that were with us. Everybody thinks and behaves uniquely and phenomenology is the phenomenon of that individuality. It goes beyond the collective experience.”

“In a work context, if MatchFit is delivering to a group, everyone in the group saying they enjoyed the day is not a particularly useful insight, because each person will have had a unique experience,” he continues. “We want to tap into that uniqueness, because that’s where the real value lies for an individual.”

With MatchFit’s CLIMB programme, integrating this uniqueness is inherent in everything that the team does.

“Most leadership programmes work through off-the-shelf content that may or may not fit with each individual in the session,” says Bradley. “It’s fairly typical to be sent on a training programme about delegation, for example. But if an attendee doesn’t have a team, the day becomes irrelevant, and that person won’t engage.”

Every CLIMB is very much about focusing on what each individual needs, even within a group, which is why one-to-one, as well as group work is undertaken.

“We’ll sit down with *John* to look at Mastery, which is all about *John* becoming an expert in what he does. We’ll look at what he needs, his strengths and what development areas are relevant for him specifically,” continues Bradley.

The CLIMB facilitates somebody’s personal learning journey towards their own development. This can often be in a group environment. And when the group is brought together, it’s a collective because the group will have joint goals that it needs to achieve together.

“You can speak to that group as a collective in regard to its collective goals. But each individual will have a unique input and perspective on making those goals happen in their own specific areas. That’s why the CLIMB has always taken a phenomenological approach.

When we talk about changing a culture, for example, what do we actually mean? Because the culture at work is going to be experienced differently by each individual. Some will find it fast-paced and exciting; others will find it high-pressured, oppressive and overwhelming. It’s the same culture externally, but it’s not necessarily the same culture individually. There is a phenomenological element, because of how we each interpret our particular environment in the context of how we’re experiencing it, here and now.” Bradley continues.

MatchFit consultants work with a group around their collective goals, and with individuals in terms of their individual contribution towards those goals. This explores issues such as motivation, and whether attendees actually want to do the type of activity that’s needed in order to deliver those collective goals.

“It’s not an approach that’s unfamiliar in coaching, but it differentiates MatchFit from other companies that deliver leadership programmes. Most leadership programmes provide prescribed content, which is what clients see and buy into. But we don’t have content and we don’t try to sell in that way – which does prove challenging at times!

What we actually want to do is go into a room with a team and a flip chart, pen and a blank piece of paper and ask ‘So what’s going on? What are the goals? What needs to happen to deliver those goals? What are the challenges and barriers?’

It’s a very effective methodology because everyone is identifying their own priorities, what’s important to them and what they want to engage in first. So you’ve got them on board immediately. You don’t have people sitting on the CLIMB wondering why they are there, because everybody has been able to contribute to the reason why they are there,” Bradley continues.

The CLIMB is a dynamic process with priorities often changing and evolving as the needs of the group and individuals within the group change.

“What’s important today might not be so important tomorrow,” Bradley points out. “And that’s okay. We don’t have to finish something purely because it’s been started. We can, and should, pivot very quickly according to need. That’s different to being in the middle of a standard leadership programme module, where you’ve either got to carry on, regardless of whether it’s relevant or not, or drop out and not complete it.

I often cite the example of making a presentation. You’ve prepared all your slides and know what you’re going to say. You’re halfway through your presentation and someone asks a question. In response to that question, you show them something on the flip chart that wasn’t in the presentation and may not even have been even relevant to its content. Then at the end of that day when you ask people what the most impactful part of session was, more often than not, they will say the moment when you discussed what was on the flipchart.

But on the whole, we’re just not used to operating like that. If you went on a leadership course, you’d want to see the content. You’d want to know what you’re covering on day one, when the breaks are, and how long the breaks are. Right from our school days we’ve had structure [a curriculum] and we are fed learning whether we want it or not. And adult learning is very similar.”

Bradley concludes, “This is why CLIMB has been so successful. It is different, because of that core phenomenology that’s fundamental to everything we deliver. And that is really important to MatchFit – because it’s what we know will ultimately deliver the best results for our clients.”

The Phenomenological Core of CLIMB Read More »

One Step Removed – the Challenges of Leading Remote Teams

MatchFit Methodology /

By Bradley Honnor

With remote and hybrid working set to become normal working practice rather than a temporary emergency fix for some time to come, it’s interesting to note that levels of ‘quiet quitting’ and burnout reported in the workplace have rarely been higher. A Deloitte survey (1) found that 28% of employees either left or were planning to leave their jobs in 2021, with 61% citing poor mental health as the reason.

For many, the opportunity to avoid the commute and arrange work hours around life commitments has proved invaluable. But there’s little doubt that this flexibility can come at a cost, and does not always lead to increased productivity (2). For some remote workers, it’s harder to switch off, and many are reporting working longer hours since working from home (3).

Some major challenges fall out of this for leaders – how to guard against employee burnout, and how to keep staff motivated, creative and engaged, when face-to-face contact and those serendipitous ‘ah ha’ moments around the coffee machine have been all but eliminated.

The risk of burnout

It’s a sad fact that most of the organisations MatchFit are working with are talking about burnout to some degree. Many people feel like they, or someone they know, are heading towards a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. They’re using phrases like ‘unsustainable workload’ or ‘high-pressure culture’. Feelings of isolation can also affect mental health. People will be heading towards burnout if these issues aren’t resolved.

If burnout isn’t addressed, it can develop into a mental breakdown. You can often recognise when stress has become a problem by observing behaviours. People withdraw, or interact with others differently. Their behaviour or expression of their personality alters to some degree. It can escalate to the extent that it becomes associated with a culture of bullying, harassment and discrimination, because everyone is under stress, suffering from work pressures and taking it out on their colleagues.

This type of behaviour can become normalised, which means a lot of us are working in a very unhealthy way. Lots of people are working very late without lunch, or aren’t leaving their desk at all, because they’re working from home. They’re spending evenings and weekends working. We work with enough organisations to know that many people think this is normal!

However, there’s a whole continuum of things that happen before that point is reached, which does present an opportunity for intervention. It’s also important to recognise the difference between healthy levels of stress, such as those experienced with an approaching deadline, and the cumulative effects of prolonged stress from which periods of recovery have not been built in.

It’s also quite interesting to recognise that this is the opposite of how younger generations want to work. They are actively seeking—if not demanding—a different way.

So, one of the many challenges for leaders becomes ‘how do we pull apart the entrenched cultural mindset that long days and unhealthy ways of working are necessary evils for career progression, whilst reproducing the environment of creativity, learning and engagement that traditionally arose from office-based personal interactions?’

Engagement is key

As a leader, you have to be smart and flexible, because if you insist that somebody works in a way that they don’t want to work, then they’re not going to stay around for very long. We know that a key motivator is for people to have autonomy and feel that they’re in control of how they work. A leader needs to accommodate this, because if they don’t, it’s going to backfire on them.

There’s plenty of evidence (4) supporting the model that flexibility in the way we’re allowed to work is as—if not more—productive than traditional patterns of long hours in the office with no lunchbreak, not least because that can lead to burnout. Leaders of today need to approach the issue with an open mind and work out how best to incorporate flexible working in a way that benefits both employees, and the business objectives.

However, creating connections and engaging with people working remotely is a different challenge. People do like to work remotely. There’s a ‘back to work’ policy right across the Civil Service now and a lot of people don’t want to come back. A survey (5) by broadband provider Gigabit Networks found that while 83% of businesses wanted their employees to be based in the office for at least three days per working week, only 20% of employees were prepared to do it.

Goals that motivate

Encouraging feelings of engagement with the business and with each other is harder to achieve when people are working remotely, so that isolation factor needs consideration. But motivating someone at home is not so very different to motivating them in the office. It centres around setting goals with a sense of purpose that inspire and stretch people, but not to the extent that they’re overwhelmed.

A sense of purpose and people feeling valued are key to intrinsic motivation. People need to feel important and that they have a voice. That’s one of the fundamental elements of the MatchFit CLIMB programme. Attendees are encouraged to identify and work through issues that are challenging to them, whether that’s a more junior member of staff wanting to be more confident in the workplace or a senior leader wanting to create a more engaged and motivated workforce.

How do you engage people and connect them together?

There is no magic wand. The unavoidable fact is that it takes effort – teams need to be bothered about getting together. We are, though, seeing an increase in teams getting together more from a social perspective. The work may be online, but when the team gets together, it’s actually to socialise.

It’s a given that managers should be asking how people are, and checking in to see how they are doing on a regular basis. But creating well-curated opportunities for people to convene, share ideas and feel a common purpose are also essential. Meetings for the sake of them just won’t cut it anymore, and are a waste of everyone’s time. But not every collaborative event has to have a firm agenda – informal virtual ‘drop-ins’ also have a role to play. They can be an enjoyable, low-pressure, way of fostering relationships, and some organisations have used them very successfully to enhance team cohesion.

And this is really important for creativity and innovation – we need to be bouncing ideas off other people. How many times has a throwaway remark or half-baked idea from one person, actually evolved into something tangible once another mind has engaged with it?

Ultimately, good management—and good corporate responsibility—is really thinking about how you connect people who are working remotely. This is the new world of work, so what is the plan?

References

1) https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/poor-mental-health-costs-uk-employers-up-to-pound-56-billion-a-year.html

2) https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/people-productive-home-just-working-longer-hours/hybrid-working/article/1712476

3) https://lawyerfeedhub.com/news/emails-at-2am-and-no-holiday-respite-lawyer-reveals-work-life-struggles-news/

4) https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/digital-workers-say-flexibility-is-key-to-their-productivity#:~:text=Flexible%20work%20hours%20is%20key,them%20to%20be%20more%20productive.

5) https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252528787/Remote-workers-shun-return-to-work

An Interview with the Governor of HMP Send

MatchFit Methodology /

Having spent 16 years as a freelance management consultant, Tim was looking for a new challenge when he came upon MatchFit. We asked him about the experience he has gained over his career and how partnering with MatchFit has proved to be the perfect fit.

An experienced trainer, coach, facilitator and management consultant, Tim’s initial career choice was actually teaching.

How did your career begin?

“I trained as a teacher,” he explains. “But those were the days when teaching jobs were hard to find, so I decided to move into sales, which I loved. I worked in financial services sales and management, in leadership and national leadership.”

However, when he was made redundant 18 years ago, he felt it was time for a change in direction.

“When I was made redundant, it gave me a chance to reflect and think, ‘What would I like to be doing next?’. I’d met one or two people at various events, working on their own in training, coaching and management consulting and I thought, ‘I’m going to give that a try’.”

Tim utilised the skills gained during his time within financial services and banking to train and advise companies across the financial services sector.

“The demand from businesses was varied” he explains. “From sales skills to management skills, leadership and coaching, development skills and then products, I’d often be brought in as part of a wider team to support learning around particular products or systems.”

He also worked with SMEs on core business skills to support their aspirations for growth.

“For SMEs, I was delivering a wide range of support to enterprises keen on growing their businesses, such as managing cash flow and debt, and developing the business. I would arrange sessions around networking, for example. I also had some specific coaching work.”

Tim has always believed in the importance of his own personal development to enhance his client role and qualified as a Level Seven coach through the Chartered Management Institute in 2009.

“I’d done a lot of coaching in my financial services leadership and management work. As my freelance business grew, I felt it was important to gain appropriate qualifications, such as the Diploma in Financial Planning, which is essential for those working in financial services. I was constantly looking out for things that I could add to my skill set.”

How did you come to work with MatchFit?

“I was looking for a new opportunity in 2020 and MatchFit posted that they were looking for facilitators. I contacted them, spoke to Emily Courtney, who introduced me to Bradley, and then I was introduced to the company’s connections in the Civil Service.

Initially my work was with the Probation Service, HM’s Courts and Tribunals Service and a private sector company. I then went on to work with the Prison Service across four establishments.”

What are you working on now?

“This year, I’ve been working with the Department for Education, and on a number of programmes for the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee. I’m also working with Civil Service HR Casework and, earlier in the year, continued my work with the Prison Service.

In addition, with a private sector client, I am delivering a Leadership and Management Programme for MatchFit of six modules over a number of months, and that will run into next year.”

Tell us about the MatchFit CLIMB High Performance Teams programme you’re facilitating

Tim explains. “If you imagine a senior leadership team, wanting to develop and embed high performance, their goal is to get everyone pulling in the same direction, including the wider management team.

For the whole team to be high performing, it’s all about culture. It is very much about valuing their people, working with their people, and we support them to do that, whilst helping to identify sustainable solutions to issues identified that may block performance.”

He continues: “So it’s about identifying with people, what actions they can commit to, and how committed they are to doing those actions. How they’re going to know they’re delivering, and how they’re going to measure outcomes. And that’s how you begin to measure change. You start measuring both in terms of people’s learning, but also very importantly, in terms of their behaviour. A fantastic example of a public sector area in the Civil Service who absolutely embraced the programme, driven by their senior leadership team, is the work with the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee. The programme was not without some behavioural and historic cultural challenges to overcome, but it has worked exceptionally well.”

Have you experienced any unexpected benefits?

“I have been working with MatchFit for over two years now and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is great work, and they are great people to work with.

I have found the work fascinating, challenging, interesting. It’s also quite liberating, because when you go into prison, you can’t take your phone. The removal of your phone means you are temporarily cut off from parts of modern life. You cannot check your emails, for instance.

You quickly get to know about the prison culture, because before you go anywhere you need to prepare. You find out what you can and can’t do. For instance, if you want to take a laptop in, it needs to be registered in advance.”

He adds: “The culture is very hierarchical in prisons, and like a large part of the Civil Service, grade is an important thing.

You are working with senior leadership teams. HMP Bure is a good example of running a three-stage CLIMB where they committed to actions, and they have delivered on actions during that CLIMB. And they continue to deliver, after that CLIMB’s conclusion. As a result of the programme, they’re no longer saying, ‘we’re going to do 20 things’. If you try to do 20 things, you’ll probably do none, because you’re overwhelmed. If you start with two or three and then add another two or three things and you’re committed to them, then you are more likely to achieve your aims. Witnessing these outcomes is very rewarding.“

What is it you particularly enjoy about the work?

“The phenomenological methodology is something that I love and embrace,” he says. “And it’s been a lot of learning for me, because it is so different. But I think once it clicks, you can clearly see the rationale for the steps you are taking.

“I have found the CLIMB programmes tremendous to work on because they are proven to succeed; they do bring measurable results.”

Finally, how do you enjoy your downtime?

“Outside of MatchFit and work, I keep busy with my family, and my support for Newcastle United. Living close to the Yorkshire Dales, I’m a keen walker – the reward of finding a good pub is incentive enough!”

Tim is also in demand as an events speaker.

“I do not see it as work, as, like work, I enjoy it,” he explains. “I speak to clubs and societies and I’m now speaking at events and dinners, which I thoroughly enjoy. But you have to be well-prepared. You don’t want to be in front of a room of 300 people and all of a sudden you think ‘oh my gosh, what am I going to say next? “

Tim also uses the opportunity to raise money for a charity close to his heart – the Leeds-based Candlelighters Children’s Cancer charity, in memory of a family friend who was supported by the charity some years ago.

“When I’m speaking, the fee goes to the charity. I like that because it’s a win-win. I get to speak, the organisation gets a speaker and the charity receives some much-needed funds.”

You can read the HMP Send case study here

An Interview with the Governor of HMP Send Read More »

An Interview with Consultant Tim Forman

MatchFit Methodology /

An experienced trainer, coach, facilitator and management consultant, Tim’s initial career choice was actually teaching.

How did your career begin?

However, when he was made redundant 18 years ago, he felt it was time for a change in direction.

Tim utilised the skills gained during his time within financial services and banking to train and advise companies across the financial services sector.

He also worked with SMEs on core business skills to support their aspirations for growth.

Tim has always believed in the importance of his own personal development to enhance his client role and qualified as a Level Seven coach through the Chartered Management Institute in 2009.

How did you come to work with MatchFit?

Initially my work was with the Probation Service, HM’s Courts and Tribunals Service and a private sector company. I then went on to work with the Prison Service across four establishments.”

What are you working on now?

In addition, with a private sector client, I am delivering a Leadership and Management Programme for MatchFit of six modules over a number of months, and that will run into next year.”

Tell us about the MatchFit CLIMB High Performance Teams programme you’re facilitating

Have you experienced any unexpected benefits?

“I have been working with MatchFit for over two years now and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is great work, and they are great people to work with.

He adds: “The culture is very hierarchical in prisons, and like a large part of the Civil Service, grade is an important thing.

What is it you particularly enjoy about the work?

“I have found the CLIMB programmes tremendous to work on because they are proven to succeed; they do bring measurable results.”

Finally, how do you enjoy your downtime?

Tim is also in demand as an events speaker.

“When I’m speaking, the fee goes to the charity. I like that because it’s a win-win. I get to speak, the organisation gets a speaker and the charity receives some much-needed funds.”

Back to Blog

An Interview with Consultant Tim Forman Read More »

CLIMB Case Study: Building a high-performing global team

High Performing Teams, MatchFit Methodology /

In this case study, we describe the challenges faced by a leading Financial Services provider, and how the MatchFit CLIMB model was used to deliver the objective of building a culture of trust and positive team relationships.

THE CHALLENGE

Managing a virtual global team of 40 people presents many challenges, even for an experienced leader. The Head of Marketing managed a team of very capable individuals working globally, but there were a number of ingrained behaviours across the team that needed to be addressed.

Lack of face-to-face interaction, together with working across cultures, time zones and with different nationalities created challenges that were difficult to manage. This resulted in mistrust among team members, a lack of team identity, poor collaboration and communication, and not having a sense of control over the collective agenda.

Aware that there were some complex personalities in their leadership team, the Head of Marketing recognised this as an opportunity to develop the team further. She sought a professional development solution that would enhance trust and drive increased collaboration and high performance at an individual and team level.

THE SOLUTION

MatchFit’s expertise in working with global and virtual teams meant we were able to create a bespoke programme (CLIMB – Building a High Performing Global Team) that would deliver against defined success criteria:

Engender a sense of trust among the team by exploring and resolving issues
Support the development of a team identity which embraces the dynamic of ‘I have your back’
Explore individual and team collaboration and identify measurable progression
Ensure control and governance over the collective agenda
Develop commitment, intensity and motivation towards the above objectives through a development pathway.

DELIVERY

Due to the virtual nature of the team, some of the sessions were conducted remotely and materials were available through a cloud platform. The marketing leadership team followed the three-phase MatchFit Development Pathway over a two-year period, which ensured careful analysis, design, delivery and measurement.

YEAR 1

Working with senior leaders and the wider team

Focused on the ‘Identify’ and ‘Innovate’ phases which included:
Base Camp team workshop
Online survey
Interviews with managers and team individuals, including reflective feedback
Development of bespoke training modules.

Base Camp team workshop

A face-to-face offsite workshop for 40 people focused on the challenges and good practice of working in global and virtual teams. It generated conversations around some of the challenges and focused on what the team could do to move forward in order to build trust, identity, collaboration and gain a sense of control.

Online Survey

Post Base Camp, we conducted an online survey across the whole team, asking a series of questions relating to:

Their objectives and the challenges they thought were blockers to success
What support they might need to unlock those challenges
What development they might need to take them to the next level of maturity in their career.

Interviews with managers and team individuals, including reflective feedback

A series of interviews at a senior leader and team level were carried out to dig even deeper. This helped identify individuals’ development areas and we were able to reflect back what their line manager thought they were, to see if they were aligned.

Development of training modules

Based on all the research and feedback gained, we designed 10 training modules that could be delivered virtually to address the key development areas that had been identified. Examples included: building trust, collaboration and your role, developing your leadership style, black box thinking etc.

YEAR 2

Working with the senior leadership team

Based on the ‘Initiate’ phase of the MatchFit Development Pathway, the key areas of focus below were agreed with the aim of strengthening relationships, collaboration and communication. In particular, unlocking tension between specific individuals within the team was also highlighted as an objective:

Leadership team dynamics
Individuals within it and their styles
Supporting the team through change.

This was delivered through:

Leadership team group sessions – setting personal commitments to change
One to one coaching including targeted development work with individuals to address behaviours that impact negatively on the team dynamic
Sensitive coaching and intervention work with individuals at a lower and more senior level to unlock tensions.

OUTCOME

“A lot of the time, this kind of support feels like a ‘nice to have’ when you have a certain amount of budget for CPD. But what I would say now, going into year three, it has to be there. It’s enormously helpful to me as a leader and the people on my team. I don’t think we would want to do without this support. The coaching support I received has helped me navigate some of the complex personalities in my team who all demand a different approach.” Head of Marketing

The impact of CLIMB – Building a High Performing Global Team has been a success story for the Marketing team. The Head of Marketing has seen a dramatic difference across all of the team and in some individuals in particular. In the 2018 company Employee Survey, the marketing team’s Leadership Survey results were the best in the whole business by quite some measure and better than the ‘Best in Class’ external benchmark.

The programme leader and coach, was viewed as an external sounding board and ‘critical friend’ who helped team members focus on their goals and put strategies in place to address their development needs. The Head of Marketing was able to gain an external and independent view of their team.

In relation to the objectives set out at the beginning of the programme, success can be demonstrated in all areas:

Engender a sense of trust among the team by exploring and resolving issues

A significant shift is now evident regarding the level of trust within the team. Individuals are instantly more open and honest with each other about ‘work stuff’, so issues can be resolved before they escalate.
The team are now more open about sharing accountability across some of the delivery areas and less protective of their ‘turf’
The Head of Marketing has gained more trust with their team by empowering staff to manage the agenda on projects.

Support the development of a team identity which embraces the dynamic of ‘I have your back’

Most team members have ‘dusted off their sharp edges’ and are now demonstrating collective trust and accountability across marketing projects relating to a number of vendors and internal stakeholders.

To explore individual and team collaboration and identify measurable progression in this area

Three team members working together on the customer experience agenda have demonstrated great collaboration, trust and accountability which is delivering benefits to their customers.
As a result of the personal one-to-one coaching and intervention work, one individual has made the biggest change in their approach and behaviour, unlocking tensions within the team which has been noticed by the Executive team.

Ensure control and governance over the collective agenda

The one-to-one coaching sessions were extremely helpful in enabling team members to have a private space to talk about what was stopping them from doing/achieving certain things, and this has been helpful in guiding the collective agenda.

“There are a lot of facilitators and coaches who run programmes, but Bradley builds trust and engagement. He is not superior towards people, he comes down to people’s levels and that openness is what leads to results. People are not scared of being vulnerable with him – he is independent and not part of a big organisation” Head of Marketing

Do you have a team challenge we can help with?

Please contact Bradley Honnor:

EMAIL: [email protected] TEL: +44 (0)20 3145 0580

CLIMB Case Study: Building a high-performing global team Read More »

Bradley Honnor talks NatWest and how great it is to see a large organisation supporting a small business

Diversity and Inclusion, MatchFit Methodology /

With MatchFit’s strong NatWest partnership flourishing, the end is in sight for the development of an online training app that will not only prove hugely beneficial to organisations looking for inclusivity across their employee base, but has also been used as a mechanism to retrain at-risk staff at the bank.

“The idea of creating an online app for the MatchFit programme came about because of that need for inclusivity,” says managing director and MatchFit owner Bradley. “If you’re going to develop a high-performing culture, and want to engender culture and values that everyone can buy into, understand and play their part in, you really need the right tools to do that.”

With MatchFit’s typical client profile being well in excess of 200 staff members, highly inclusive face-to-face programmes can take significant time and resources to implement successfully.

“The app is a way to bring some of what we do face-to-face to a wider population whilst keeping the content tailored and unique for each individual.”

Accessibility is key and the app will allow participants to consume content that is relevant to them in their own time, in bite-sized chunks. The high-flexibility infrastructure will also enable a client organisation to select what subjects are available to which groups, so the training can be very tailored, yet with everybody being involved and having their own specific journey.

“NatWest’s agenda was to reskill and redeploy a number of at-risk staff into IT roles. And for them to work on a live project of this complexity from start to (almost) finish has been fantastic,” said Bradley. “In the process, NatWest has been able to support my small business, which I personally think is a brilliant thing to do and something larger companies should do more of.”

The app in action

“One of the things I think the app does very well is enable measurement. Managers can see how far their team members have transitioned through their personal development journeys and that’s incredibly useful,” Bradley continued.

With the app driving users to content they need to know more about, managers can see metrics on individual journeys. This provides insight into what developments are necessary for teams and how far each member has progressed.

“The app has been built such that any content can be added, so it’s really flexible, right from the top to bottom. Clients can use the tool to address any concerns their particular organisation has,” he concluded.

Ready to ‘go’?

“Right now we’re in a position to go completely end-to-end. So we’ve got all of the content in for the CLIMB with GRIT programme as proof of concept, and clients can start right at the beginning—at Basecamp—and work all the way through to the summit,” according to Bradley.

With the main functionality up and working, including the ability to see where you are in the journey and what you’ve completed, the MatchFit team needed to convert content that was used in a face-to-face environment to work online.

“Now that we’ve been through that difficult process once, we know exactly what the developers need so uploading content for subsequent modules will be that much easier,” said Bradley.

In fact, implementing a technical solution for a non-technical team has been a challenge for MatchFit.

“There were lots of iterations of the content and lots of backs and forth with quite a few lessons learned. But we started to work pretty effectively as the project went on,” said Bradley. “I think what we’ve ended up with is very innovative and market leading, and it’s been great to work with such a supportive partner in NatWest all the way through.”

Bradley Honnor talks NatWest and how great it is to see a large organisation supporting a small business Read More »

A forward-thinking reskilling project with NatWest

Diversity and Inclusion, MatchFit Methodology /

There is no doubt that technology-driven changes to working practices can cut business operational costs, increase efficiency and deliver incredible benefits to customers. However, this can come at the cost of employment as automation replaces jobs, and the loss of intangible human skills and knowledge built up by employees over many years of experience.

This has been an area of focus for the NatWest Group, where a number of employees were at risk of redundancy due to the closure of branches and increasing digitisation of functions. The Group were interested in testing whether some of these employees could be reskilled and redeployed as software engineers within the organisation, thereby avoiding the loss of talented staff with customer-facing knowledge, as well as supporting staff at a difficult time. The third phase of this reskilling programme—and the point at which MatchFit became involved—entailed developing a suite of learning resources via an app, to develop the software engineering skills of the reskillers.

Heading up this project on behalf of the bank was Damian Sellers, Head of Tech/Change Workforce Capability at NatWest Group. We spoke to him about the project, whether he thinks it’s been successful, and what it means for the future.

Firstly, we asked Damian how and why he became involved.

“My role involved heading up the tech capability stream of our workforce enablement in our services space. Services in NatWest covers a broad area, but it comprises most of the system support functions; so mainly tech and change. It employs 30,000 people—half the bank—and what we were trying to do is look at what today’s skills are, and then, in this rapidly changing world around us, what skills would be needed in the future and what the gap will be.

Banks are also changing massively and instead of being these big grey monoliths, we are all trying our best to be agile, digitally savvy, and digital-based across everything we do. Everything is changing around us and the workforce needs to change too.

NatWest are a purpose-led bank as well. That’s the strategy under new CEO, Alison Rose, the first ever female CEO of a ‘big four’ bank. Climate, enterprise and learning are the focus of our purpose, which is to champion the potential of people, families and businesses.

What we were looking at in our capability stream was ‘how can we align everything so that we’re doing the right thing for our people’, because NatWest don’t want to be a bank that hires and fires. They want to take the talent out of those parts of the organisation where roles are being automated or digitalised and retrain those people.

So one thing we did, amongst others, is to pilot an upskilling programme. We invited at-risk colleagues—people that had already been told they were going to be made redundant— to apply for one of 20 software engineering training places.

Applicants were assessed and interviewed, and then the successful candidates became a cohort of 20 to be reskilled into software engineering roles within the bank. It’s quite an investment for the bank, because it takes roughly nine months to train people and place them in the businesses. We started with a three-month software engineering bootcamp, which trained them in the fundamentals of software engineering, then another three months of self-led tailored learning, with access to learning materials. Then crucially—and this is where MatchFit came in—we also suggested the idea of the reskillers actually doing a builder project.

A builder project is a recognised term within this kind of learning space and within technology. In this instance, it was to work on an external application build for one of our customers on a ‘no regrets’ basis. So essentially our customer, MatchFit, potentially benefits from the app build, and the bank gets a risk-free training area to test the project participants’ skills and develop their confidence.”

What have been the outcomes?

“The actual outcome is that the reskillers have been brilliant. They’ve built the app, with full front to back coverage and it is going to be great!

There have been some terrific stories! I would get a presentation from the reskilling cohort every week, where they reported on what they’d done; how the sprints went. There are some amazing stories, and for some this has been life changing. People have been really worried about the way forward, but we had no age cap on the project and some people in their 50s have taken the plunge and decided to try and re skill as a software engineer, which I think is so brave!

And now the bank also benefits from the fact that all of these customer-savvy people who know the products, know the customers, demonstrate great behaviours and are about to be deployed into the mix with quite a homogenised group of software engineers. In general, this is still male-dominated, still very tech-focussed, they’re all come from the same STEM university background. We’ve added in some people with very different backgrounds and that is really going to shake things up in a positive way!”

How does the app work?

“The MatchFit CLIMB model itself starts with a review across all the workforce which looks at ‘how good are you at: commitment, leadership, intensity, motivation and belief’. There are similar lenses for the HUMAN and TEAM models as well. This is explored via a questionnaire, produced as an analysis and then recommendations can be made according to any issues highlighted, with the appropriate intervention delivered. This is usually done face-to-face, with whiteboards, and people in a room.

The task was to translate this to an app. We coded it so that teams can be set up within the app, team members can answer all those questions in the app and grade themselves one to 10 on the answers. It then produces a result and gives tailored learning based on any development areas, in all of those different categories. A matrix calculates which learning content a person should be directed to according to their score, and that content might be a video, recommended reading or a task.

There’s also a manager view, so a manager can get an anonymised aggregate score for their team in each of those categories within the CLIMB, HUMAN, or TEAM model. That manager can then see whether there is an area of weakness, and MatchFit can be called in to do some targeted leadership training, for example.”

What have been the challenges?

“The matrix is quite a complex algorithm to actually figure out – it’s really intermediate training rather than beginner. So the challenge was whether our trainee software engineers could build something that was getting more and more sophisticated. There were the security elements of it, as well as things from a functional perspective, such as password resets, and ‘what happens if I want to take someone out of my team; someone leaves; I add someone to the team? How does someone actually get access to the application in the first place?’

It was also a challenge for me, in a small team, and I had to ensure I could translate the MatchFit brief accurately, and consider all the complex technical scenarios.”

What would you consider a successful outcome from this project?

“From a NatWest perspective, a successful outcome is that their reskillers benefit from it. If they’ve learnt key skills, keep their skills fresh and develop themselves through building this app, then that’s all I really care about. There would be a sense of pride for them, however, if it goes live and they can log on as a user and see what they built.

Although the cohort are now being placed in their new business units across the bank, they will continue to work on the MatchFit for a minimum of 30% of their time for at least another three months, because they won’t all start coding straight away due to the critical nature of the systems they’ll be working on.

The internal goodwill that was generated off the back of this has been fantastic. NatWest CEO Alison Rose heard about what we were doing, and sent each of our reskillers a personal email. The feedback was great – everyone recognises that it’s brilliant that the bank is supporting their people in this way, and it aligns with NatWest’s strategy and focus.

It’s not been without cost, but measured against the financial—and human—costs of redundancy, it has proven to be a very sound investment.”

A forward-thinking reskilling project with NatWest Read More »

When Team Opinions Divide

MatchFit Methodology /

One of the key themes that emerged from our recent interview with MatchFit consultant Alison Phelan was how much divergence of opinion there could be within a team during the initial research and analysis phase of a MatchFit programme. Whether it’s thoughts on the culture; day-to-day experiences; or leadership, there are often wide-ranging opinions.

Even within the individual there can be conflict – a person might absolutely love their job, and yet still have strong criticisms about things that they perceive to be going wrong.

This is actually fairly typical and illustrates just how complex company culture can be. It’s also why the phenomenological element is really important, because we can all experience a culture completely differently from one another, and even that is fluid.

“Do you like your job” may seem like a binary question, but actually, it’s more complicated than that. There may be aspects of my job that I enjoy, and others I find challenging or frustrating. But that might also depend on my frame of mind at the time.

Within any team, there will be polarities and that’s why we look at group dynamics. Because it’s a dynamic, it moves and changes, and that’s OK. That phenomenological aspect addresses this by looking quite literally at the here and now. There are similarities with what I often found in my psychotherapy work: an individual could be really consumed by a particular issue one week, and yet by the next session it wasn’t as important anymore. This was either because something else had taken priority, they felt differently about it, or had worked it through.

So it’s really important to think about the sort of assumptions that we might make, how they would impact the conversations we have, and how this will steer those conversations and the types of questions we might ask. Part of the skill of the facilitators, when we move on from the analysis phase, is to navigate those ever-changing dynamics for the individual and group. We look at how the individual can move towards having more of those components that they’re satisfied with, more often, and then how the team can unify themselves with a shared direction and joint objectives. We also have to appreciate that this is not always going to be cohesive, comfortable and positive for everyone all the time. That’s the definition of dynamic.

The first thing a leader needs to do to help address some of these issues is to recognise individual experience, and not make assumptions about how someone should be experiencing the culture, and therefore categorising people into groups. The most effective way to get to the bottom of what’s happening is by listening to the experiences people are having, but not asking leading questions to direct those conversations.

For example, in designing in a survey for a certain programme, we were asked why we hadn’t referred to a certain category of people and their experiences specifically. This was interesting, because there were many different identities of people that we weren’t asking about. Our response was that if those employees were experiencing the culture in a negative way specifically because of membership of that category, then this would be emerging organically, without bias, in the conversations.

Ultimately, it’s all about ‘how do you impact on the individual experience of people, their interpretation of their environment and culture, and how do you then collectively deliver across teams to try and unify people’s working alliances?’.

That isn’t really happening as much as I believe it should.

When Team Opinions Divide Read More »

You can read the previous interview with Tim here

The risk of burnout

Engagement is key

Goals that motivate

How do you engage people and connect them together?

References

Further reading

You can read the HMP Send case study here

THE CHALLENGE

THE SOLUTION

DELIVERY

YEAR 1

Working with senior leaders and the wider team

Base Camp team workshop

Online Survey

Interviews with managers and team individuals, including reflective feedback

Development of training modules

YEAR 2

Working with the senior leadership team

OUTCOME

In relation to the objectives set out at the beginning of the programme, success can be demonstrated in all areas:

Engender a sense of trust among the team by exploring and resolving issues

Support the development of a team identity which embraces the dynamic of ‘I have your back’

To explore individual and team collaboration and identify measurable progression in this area

Ensure control and governance over the collective agenda