Case study:
Improving team working and increasing trust

Background

In the ever-evolving, highly-competitive aerospace industry, trust between the senior management team (directly below the board) is essential. Working alongside an existing leadership programme, we used Action Learning (AL) to develop trust.

Approach

The process kicked off with a whole team event focused on building trust. The leadership was then divided into three AL Sets, with a good mix of personalities. 

The facilitator held a coaching session with each participant before the Sets met, to help identify the key ‘trust’ issues for them to work on. 

Each Set then met three times over nine months. In each short and focused session, adapted to fit with the leaders’ busy schedules, two people presented. The intervention concluded with a 1-to-1 coaching session to reflect on their individual learning and next steps. 

Result 

Each participant gained greater insights, self-awareness and understanding on how they relate to others and build trust in the context they work in. 

Collectively, the teams are now far more cohesive. They moved away from their silo approach to working and thinking, saw they shared similar issues, and were able to build stronger relationships. There was a much greater willingness to be vulnerable, which contributed to improved team working. Applying Action Learning was so effective that the majority agreed to set up new AL groups. These were launched with a first session so they became self-facilitating. The impact of working in this way was they wanted more of it. 

Action Learning and coaching is now an integral element of the company’s leadership development programmes. 

In brief: key services used

Bespoke in-house facilitation
Individual coaching
Tools & Resources

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