Ushering in Transition through Person-Centered Team Reviews
As the heat of summer gives way to the gentle coolness of autumn, a metaphorical transition takes place within teams. Much like the changing seasons, teams go through a shift from a phase of intense productivity to a period of thoughtful reflection. Just as summer represents a time of vibrant activity and collaboration, teams thrive on the energy and synergy that fuels their collective efforts. They work together, brainstorm ideas, and strive towards achieving their goals with unwavering determination.
However, as the days grow shorter and a subtle breeze of change sweeps through, teams embrace a different mindset. Like the falling leaves, they detach momentarily from the feverish pace of productivity and turn inward to reflect on their journey. Fall becomes a season of self-assessment, where teams gather the fallen leaves of their accomplishments, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and prepare for the upcoming winter of challenges and growth.
One way to perform this self-assessment is to facilitate a person-centered team review. Based on the principles of person-centered planning, a team review is an inclusive, thoughtful, and thorough retrospective that gives a team a chance to reflect and realign team agreements, priorities, intentions, and action. Our team holds a team review every fall, sometime between October through December, to help us navigate this transition, and find solace and inspiration in the transformative beauty of reflection.
If you’ve never tried a team review before, here is a crosswalk that describes the similarities and subtle differences between a person-centered review and a person-centered team review.
Similar to person-centered reviews around individuals, a person-centered team review ends with specific performance targets or outcomes for the upcoming year and actions to achieve them.
For a handy reference, download the crosswalk here.
Getting Started
When in person, post flip chart paper on the walls to create sections for people to write their ideas. Need help getting started? You can print these section headers on 8 ½” x 11” paper, then cut the pages in half and tape the headers to the top of the flip charts.
In this picture, Nate is summarizing the input from the team review. You can see how the headers are being used here.
This example shows how you can use Mural to host a remote team review.
If you’d like more information about person-centered team reviews, or would like to have H S A facilitate your team review, please email Mary Beth at marybeth@helensandersonassociates.com
Wishing you all the best in this beautiful season of transition and reflection.
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