Supporting the closure of a team — leadership tips and a closure retro template
Back in Feb 2020 I delivered a talk at Mind The Product (MTP) conference in Manchester. The concept of the talk was that a delivery manager’s role is to help a team iterate. To enable a team through the forming, storming, norming and performing phases.
What the talk didn’t address was the final stage of the cycle which is ‘adjourning’. Product delivery is fun and exciting at the forming stage. Thinking about how we get a team aligned around a challenge. As well as creating a high performing culture.
This summer I had to face a different delivery challenge. Facing the reality of having to bring a team to a close.
It’s been reported in the news that Co-op made some support centre job cuts, along with scaling back technology investments. As a result of this the CX team I was working in has been disbanded.
So I wanted to share some practical resources. In the hope that they might be of help to other professionals facing team cuts. As I expect challenging times ahead for many businesses as we head into recession.
If you want to skip to the closure retro post this is a link to blog part 2.
Part 1 Tips on how to support a team responding to a disbandment of team
These are a few top level reminders and practical tips to help teams when navigating a closure.
Honest and open communication from leadership
This goes without saying but it’s not always easy. Tell a team as much as you can. Being clear on the why and how decisions have been made. As well as how the decisions supports the bigger company picture
As a local CX LT we agreed that we would review comms messages to the team before we sent them. We also agreed on having one consistent point of contact to share updates.
When we had the call to talk through the news, I set up a word document so we could collate all the questions the team had. This was so we could be as transparent as possible. It also became a way to help the team process all the thoughts and questions that come up. This sort of transparency can go a small way to showing you want to be open and honest. Even though you don’t have perfect, pre-prepared answers.
Wellbeing matters even more during times of change and uncertainty
We learned this from supporting teams during the pandemic. During intense periods of change and uncertainty our resilience can take a hit. So to help support the team during a bumpy few weeks we did several things.
- Informal stand-ups to check-in on each other.
As the work was winding up the pace slowed down too. So rather than typical full blown team stand-ups I created an all team morning check-in each day. This gave us the space and routine to keep checking in with each other. We took it in turns to ask light-hearted questions. This gave us space and permission to be human. Space to laugh, to connect and to know we were all processing it in our own way. But we weren’t doing it alone.
- Music helps
In the last few weeks we created two Spotify playlists. One with our desert island picks. The other with a song that encapsulated our experience of being in the team. If I want to fondly think of the team and the memories we made I can give the playlist a listen and feel proud.
- Encourage time away from screens & meetings to process the news
We all have different coping mechanisms. Though one strategy that doesn’t help is feeling chained to your desk. Taking regular breaks. As well as speaking to friends and family to process how you feel are important parts of the process. As well as practically thinking about how to look after your resilience levels. Navigating change can be a huge drain on our energy. So ensure you’re doing activities that refill your cup are vital. If you can take some time off work then do it. As time away from work can also help gain perspective on what it is about work that matters to you.
- Gratitude and humility is grounding
Last but not least is the grace to take it all in your stride. While it was a shock and really disappointing that our team was disbanded, we were not made redundant. As I posted a while back I was gutted to see so many talented colleagues losing their jobs at this difficult time.
Gratitude for the time we did have as a team and the opportunity we’d ben given helped. But one thing that was really special was doing a team appreciation activity. On our last Monday together we all went round the virtual room. We shared a few words about what we’d valued from working together. It was a fitting way to close out our last week.
It was tough personally to have to hold it all together. So if you’re in a leadership position don’t underestimate the power of giving your reassurance. Telling yourself in your own words that you did the best you could in a difficult situation. Sometimes you will never hear what you need from other people. So tell yourself what you need to hear. After the retro I took some time to write myself a thank you letter. I’m so glad I did as it helped me to bring a sense of closure to it all.
I hope this blog post provides some helpful tips and suggestions. As I wrote it for anyone in the difficult situation of having to draw a team to a close.
It’s not a pleasant experience. But by writing and sharing this I hope to make it a bit less difficult for when someone has to do this.
The second part of this blog outlines the closure retro activity. As well as providing a retro template for people to use.
