Collaboration & Culture
Cross Shadowing — Understand to Deliver
Creating opportunities to understand the work on the other side of a handover.
Conceived and designed the programme, engaged teams, supported communication and delivered my team’s sessions.
short sessions across teams
The context
In an organisation of around 80 people, teams shared interdependent work but had limited understanding of one another’s tasks and constraints. That left opportunities for better relationships and end-to-end improvement.
The approach
Each team identified its key activities and prepared 30–60 minute learning sessions for colleagues from other areas.
I designed a passport concept with stamps and small incentives to encourage voluntary participation across the teams.
I supported colleagues in developing their own sessions, delivered those for my team and collected improvement ideas from the discussions.
What changed
- The sessions generated practical, incremental improvements to processes and opportunities for closer collaboration.
- Participation was not effortless: some colleagues weighed the sessions against their day-to-day workload. The experience reinforced the need to make the value of learning tangible.
Understanding another team’s work is a practical starting point for empathy and improvement.