MARS
High Performing Team
Over 30 members across the Mars and EY Unify Core team, and EY wavespace partnered to deliver a two-day dynamic hybrid experience to discuss their ideal collaboration as one team.
Client Engagement Workshop
*Note: A selection of images has been intentionally obscured to protect client confidentiality.
Duration: 3 Weeks (10.2023 - 11.2023)
The Challenge
How can we better work as a team to cultivate collaboration across unify?
Objectives
Rally around a future-facing vision for the team and teaming culture
Align to create a common understanding around the breadth of work in flight across workstreams
Identify action items to empower each other as one team moving forward
Explore how we come together to enable a future of collaboration and success between Mars and EY
Design Process
The team leveraged EY wavespace models to scope, probe, and comprehend the ask of the client and how to approach it.
Workshop Agenda
A two-day workshop agenda was crafted after rounds of collaboration and discussions with the broader team including key stakeholders from Mars, EY account team, and EY wavespace team. This agenda seamlessly integrated a sequence of interactive activities that could be facilitated in both in-person and virtual settings and encompassed the client’s desired outcomes.
Theme of the Session
A visual theme of birds flocking together and a blue sky was applied throughout the workshop design to emphasize the team working together and being brave and limitless. Together with the visuals, verbiage related to the theme was also implemented to elevate the overall atmosphere and prompt the participants to be in the right mindset for the session.
Production & Workshop Delivery
Considering the limited technology availability at the workshop venue, we designed and printed workshop materials and facilitated on-site. The analog workshop outputs (i.e. sticky notes and any other handwritten materials) were later digitized for better legibility and shared with the client.
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You and Your Avatar Bird
For pre-work, each participant was asked to complete a working style assessment and was assigned to a bird representing a unique set of traits and strengths. This was later leveraged during the workshop.
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Keynote Presentation
EY SMR presented and led an inspiring discussion around the concept of trust and the implications it has on team performance and wellbeing. Following the presentation, participants reflected on the moments where they have experienced trust, what happens when there is no trust, and what is at risk for their team if they fail to collaborate.
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Headlines of the Future
In breakout teams, participants discussed what a successful future state for the Unify Program would look like in a year from today. This future-back activity allowed them to critically identify potential actions they should take and challenges they need to overcome in order to achieve the vision.
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Beliefs and Behaviors
Following the debrief around the future headlines, participants engaged in a plenary discussion to explore core beliefs that drive the team and the behaviors that arise as a result. The team looked across all ideas and distilled down to an overarching belief and behavior that are foundational to the team and critical to success.
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Birds Flying Together
In breakouts, each participant shared their bird and the leadership style they received from the assessment at the beginning of the session. Then they discussed and explored how they might work better together leveraging their leadership style to drive the team for future success.
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Teaming Activity: Masterpiece
Day 2 started with a welcome activity that required teams to breakout and work together to replicate a piece of artwork. Each team devised a different strategy to create their drawing before coming back to plenary. Altogether, participants discovered how each of their pieced combined together to create the image of a bird, the “masterpiece” they created through team work and trust.
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How will we work together differently?
Mars SMR led a discussion around the current state of organization, decision management, and ways of collaboration and asked participants to share their ideas around what they should start doing, stop doing and what they are current doing well and should continue doing.
Wrap-up
As the session closed, participants were asked to individually reflect on the work done across two days and their personal learnings on a provided commitment card. Participants then identified a personal action that they would commit to helping drive the success of their team and teaming.
Participants showed a great level of engagement and enthusiasm throughout the two days. The experience served as a pivotal moment, solidifying the robust partnership between Mars and EY, ensuring that the project Unify maintains its momentum with a unified team effort.
