Department for Education
We know how much our customers love hearing how others are using Teamgage.
That's why we invited Tony Tyler, Manager ICT Support Services at the Department for Education, South Australia to have a chat and share some of his insights with us.
Let's dive in and discover the journey he's been on with Teamgage.
No stranger to Teamgage
I’ve been with the Department for Education (DfE) 4 months now and am really pleased to see they were already using Teamgage.
I’m no stranger to the platform having used it successfully within other organisations.
Getting the cadence right
In my previous roles, we’ve used it monthly to take that ‘pulse check’ of the team. At DfE, I noted a weekly cadence in some scenarios and fortnightly in others.
We are currently reviewing cadence and the right fit for wider teams will soon be introduced.
The great thing about Teamgage is you can configure different cadence at individual team levels. So it has some good flexibility.
Taking action to close the loop
Some organisations will only use Teamgage to capture their employee insights and trend it. For me personally, the true value comes from other Teamgage functionality.
Actions are a great example, where leaders are prompted to look at their team results, add some actions to improve results and then revisit these, all in the same system.
This really helps close the loop on the team insights coming through and the outcomes they help to drive.
Being proactive if results trend down
It’s important to remember that results in Teamgage can trend up and down, for many different reasons and this variation includes the submission rate.
Noting that the tool has been in use for a while, we were tracking a 60% response rate.
Working closely with the team leaders encouraging them to use the full platform it was important to capture these insights, but also be seen to react, capture actions, take ownership and facilitate outcomes. As such Teamgage featured in each meeting and was set in the agenda.
Team leaders taking responsibility
It does require a careful balance, as it takes time for team leaders to track team comments, create actions and ensure they follow-up.
We started showing that we can react to these things, introduce tweaks and changes and show the outcomes.
Getting the messaging right
So my tips:
1. Advocate for Teamgage
2. Build faith in the process over time
3. Ensure people trust the anonymity of the platform
4. Encourage people to comment on the lows or the highs, comments are key here
5. Show you are willing to listen, make people feel heard and respond where possible
The cycle of change
It’s also worth highlighting that as you go through the Teamgage cycle, the changes you make in response to results can create further outcomes.
That is where the Teamgage platform really works, as it helped us quickly understand how people were feeling about the changes we were introducing.
A business case for change
One of the things I've learned as a leader over the years is that if you hear the same thing three times or more, from different places, it’s time for action.
Remember this may not be some major change in how you operate as a team, but perhaps a small frustration that keeps popping up in your results.
So not only can Teamgage help surface those insights, but also help you to make the business case for removing those smaller frustrations too.
Go on the journey
The important thing to remember here is that you need to go on the journey and commit to the toolset. Put the effort in as a leader, use the tool well and generate those team insights.
What they say
"I love the simplicity of Teamgage. Our people can create insights in literally 20 seconds.
As a leader, the benchmarking tool is really powerful, plus it keeps all the team actions in the same place, and helps to keep you focused on the sentiment and outcomes."
Tony Tyler
Manager ICT Support Services, Department for Education, South Australia
