Transformers is a programme to help teams cultivate engaging practices and habits for their teams and their clients. 

It supports teams with simple, quick-to-implement practices that will make an immediate difference. 

This programme serves to refresh ourselves on the core elements that help teams remain engaged, effective and healthy, especially as we adapt to a hybrid environment where not everyone will be working on-site all the time and we continue recovering from the difficult and challenging period triggered by the pandemic. 

The programme is all about putting things into practice. Teams are encouraged to pick and adapt practices to their own needs. 

For example, the meeting tune-up module suggests different meeting types, a rhythm for how frequently and how long to meet and provides template agendas. Through coaching, teams can then review how their own meetings and adapt the suggested practices for their own context and needs. 

The goal is that this programme will help teams become bubbles of engagement and productivity the wider complexity and challenges of the UN System. The hope is this will have ripple effects across the UN family.

As personnel in the UN are incredibly busy, this programme is designed to support teams to implement practices, rather than simply offer more content. Teams will participate as a group in selected modules. The workshops will not be open to individuals. 

The programme consists of modules on key topics. Each module is delivered through a "team re-design sprint” consisting of 4 sessions: 

• 1 x 80-minute workshop session to introduce the team to the practices of that module, 
• followed by 3 coaching sessions to focus on implementation and offer a place to reflect and adapt. Length of session can be adapted to team needs: 45-80 minutes per week. 

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Thus, the total time investment is 5-6 hours over 4-8 weeks per module. 

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1 workshop to introduce teams to the practices and commit to adapting

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3 coaching sessions to review how implementation is going

The Transformers programme has been developed and piloted by the Business Transformation and Accountability Division. It is an example of #NewWork in action. NewWork is a grassroots community of UN employees who are innovating, collaborating, and adopting new ways of working. NewWork aims to change our workplace culture and cultivate an agile, people-focused UN 2.0.

Meeting Tune-up

We spend a lot of time in meetings, but how effective are they? Getting team meetings right can improve engagement and productivity as well as create time and space for other activities.

• Meeting Purpose
• Types of meetings and meeting rhythm
• Meeting template
• Team Huddles
• Increasing engagement
• Reducing unnecessary and ineffective meetings

Clear Communication

Improve understanding, listen better, and make communication within your team more consistent to improve engagement and productivity.

• Why do we communicate
• Selecting a communication channel
• Communication rhythm
• Effective email writing
• Active listening
• Quick tips and tools

Psychological Safety

A pre-requisite for high performing teams; this module lays a foundation upon which teams can build other practices and behaviours, ensuring effective team dynamics.

• Defining psychological safety and types
• Elements to foster psychological safety
• Personal boundaries
• ‘Kind candor’
• Team dynamics and agreements
• Approach to navigating difficult communication

Purpose and Values

Clarify your team purpose and values which serve as guiding points to align the work of the team, reduce ad-hoc activities, and foster more effective decision-making.

• Defining purpose and values
• Frames for visualizing purpose and values
• Categories of purpose
• Putting purpose into practice
• Align to UN mandate

Goals, Roles and Tasks

Ensure team goals are SMART, roles and responsibilities are clear, and ensure ongoing feedback to improve engagement and productivity.

• Defining goals, roles and tasks
• Goal development loop
• SMART goals
• Matching roles to goals
• Anatomy of a task
• Progress feedback loop