Designing and delivering development workshops for the NHS
How Unseen designed and facilitated a full-day team development workshop for the NHS.
About the Customer
NHS
Healthcare
Team development: building on existing strengths while identifying opportunities to develop further
The workshop set in motion more collaboration, better leveraging of diverse strengths and navigation of any challenges with more understanding and trust.
Background
The Communications and Design team at an NHS Trust was at an interesting point in their development. While some team members had worked together for many years, recent additions created an opportunity to intentionally shape how everyone would work together going forwards.
The team was already delivering high-quality, award-winning work. However, they recognised the value in pausing in this time of change to get to know each other better as individuals, explore how they wanted to work together as a newly formed team, and build on existing strengths while identifying opportunities to develop further. The team needed proper time away from their day-to-day to reflect, connect, and co-create their new ways of working.
Our solution
Unseen’s team of organisational psychologists, Sten10, designed and facilitated a full-day team development workshop combining individual reflection, interactive activities, and future-focused planning. The morning session focused on building understanding through exploration of team development stages, helping members normalise the challenges of forming new working relationships.
The “Manual of Me” activity gave colleagues space to share their working preferences and communication styles, while personality and working styles exercises using Wave Work Roles cards enabled everyone to identify individual strengths and potential blind spots.
The afternoon moved towards co-creating practical ways of working together. The team reflected on the Trust’s values of being Empowered, Compassionate, Professional, and Inclusive, exploring what these mean in practice for them specifically.
They established agreements covering communication guidelines, decision-making processes, and accountability. Each team member made personal commitments to turn their insights into action. Throughout the day, we created space for open and sometimes sensitive conversations, allowing team members to raise ideas and concerns in a supportive environment.
“This was exactly what we needed.”
Outcome
The workshop successfully opened up communication and strengthened the sense of being a team. The team gained valuable clarity on colleagues’ working styles and communication preferences, which laid foundations for smoother collaboration.
The session surfaced honest reflections about both what was working well and where opportunities existed to work even better together, including constructive dialogue about topics such as representation and inclusion, feedback practices, and managing stakeholder relationships.
The team identified several practical improvements they wanted to implement, including consistent meeting agendas, quarterly face-to-face team days that balance work-focused discussions with informal connection, and more regular conversations about learning and development. To sustain the momentum from the workshop, the team committed to monthly 30-minute check-ins to reflect on what’s working and where friction might come about, rotating “Knowledge Sharing” sessions where members share expertise, and practice feedback sessions to build confidence in constructive challenge.
The workshop set in motion more collaboration, better leveraging of diverse strengths and navigation of any challenges with more understanding and trust.
“The day went really well and the feedback has been excellent.”
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