Improvement Network subscriber, Stuart Reid, describes the benefits of using the Improvement Tools to support his team management role.

What prompted you to use the Improvement Tools?

I was running an awayday for my directorate's senior management team. The team is fairly new, and I wanted to do some work on identifying its strengths and weaknesses, in order to identify priorities for improvement. To help with this I was looking for a questionnaire that team members could fill in individually, that would ask them to rate the team's performance in a number of areas.

I had been looking on the internet for a suitable questionnaire, and also asking friends and contacts, but nothing had come up. When I received the monthly email from the Improvement Network, it prompted me to look at the Improvement Tools section. I had been aware of the Improvement Tools since they were first launched, but needed the email prompt to bring them to the front of my mind.

What particular tool/s did you first look at?

I went straight to the teamworking section, and looked through the various categories. I downloaded the content from the 'Increase my team's performance' section, and looked through each of the items in that category.

Which of the tools you viewed did you decide to use, and what was the impetus for this?

The team review questionnaire in this category was exactly what I was looking for. It described various aspects of a team's performance, and allowed team members to score their team.

Did you adapt the tool to suit your particular workplace situation? If so, how?

I knew from talking to members of the team that there were some areas of team performance that they wanted to discuss about that didn't appear in the tool, so I wrote new questions that focused on those areas. And some of the existing areas didn't quite work for this team, so I tweaked the wording of a few of the questions to make them work.

I also set up a spreadsheet for myself so that I could plug in the scores from each team member, so the spreadsheet would calculate averages and ranges for me, and help me identify differences between sub-groups in the team.

What was the outcome from using the tools, for yourself and others?

The results were extremely helpful. They showed some areas which all members of the team agreed were strengths, but also showed some interesting differences in perceptions between different members of the team. This helped to open up a good, honest discussion about what was working well and what needed to improve. It also helped the team to quickly agree their top priorities for improvement on a consensus basis.

Do you think there will be any longer term benefits for you and your team from using the tools?

I hope so! The team used the top 4-6 priorities they had identified to do some action planning at the end of the awayday, and have already delivered on the first one or two of their actions. Time will tell whether they complete the others.

Do you plan to use the tools again if you are searching for support to help with future workplace issues?

Definitely. Having used them once I am now more likely to remember to look at them next time. I was impressed with the range of material available, and also by the fact that I couldn't find anything else on the internet that was as close to what I was looking for.

How would you rate the overall comprehensiveness of the tools available?

It's hard to answer this really. At first glance the tools look good because they cover a wide range of topics. If they continue to provide what I need the next few times I use them, then I would say they are pretty comprehensive.

If the tools were not available, would this have an impact on you, or would you have alternative solutions you could access?

There are alternatives available on the internet, but they are nothing like as well structured as the Improvement Tools. And in this example, I failed to find what I was looking for anywhere else.

One function I would find useful in future is the ability to download all of the tools in a given section in one go, rather than needing to download them one-by-one. That would save me time.

Submit your case study

If you have a case study to share about how using the Improvement Tools has enhanced your work, or resolved a business issue, please email: feedback@improvementnetwork.gov.uk.