Essex County Council’s Strategy, Insight and Engagement (SIE) Senior Management Team participated in the Emergenetics pilot offer. Read below to find out more about the team and their experience of Emergenetics.
Background
The SIE Senior Management Team supports the whole organisation in the overarching strategic direction and leadership of the council. This session catered to a range of Heads of Profession in areas such as: Performance & Business Intelligence, Research & Citizen Insight, Data & Analytics, Strategy, Partnerships and, Communications & Marketing.
The team wanted to use the session as an opportunity for learning so that they could continue to move forward as a collective unit, challenge their perceptions of one another and in turn, improve their working relationships. They wanted the opportunity for self-reflection and personal development so that they understood the impact of their unique behaviours and traits as well as their work style preferences.
Feedback
The team felt that the nature of the Emergenetics session was very inclusive as it took a strengths-based approach. This could especially give the management team the motivation that they need to move as a collective unit, by ‘playing to each other’s strengths’. It is valuable to remember here that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ profile and that each Emergenetics profile provides the knowledge to understand strengths and preferences better.
Alongside this, the collaborative character of the session was thought to underpin the overarching theme of collaboration across professional areas, which is very relevant to the work of each officer whose directorate works to support the council. The team was able to understand the way they think and behave, as well as be mindful of the way they do so when working internally and externally. The team thought that other councils would find this equally useful, and councils could benefit from Emergenetics at the employee’s induction stage, as well as rolling it out across the organisation. The virtual format of the session also worked well for Essex.
I thought the benefits were immense. It helped us understand our default thinking and behaving style and as a result how to be mindful of that in working with others both inside and outside the organisation.