Listening to an R&D team before talking about reorganisation
NéolisInvented name
In a large energy group, a research team had just learned that its R&D would narrow its focus, that its centre of gravity was moving to another country and that budgets were falling. Before the team day, we first asked the team what it thought. Its answers wrote the programme.
- Sector
- Energy, research and development
- Size
- A few dozen researchers, across several sites
- Format
- A questionnaire, then one day
- In the room
- A few dozen researchers and engineers working on a decarbonisation technology, spread over several sites and countries, with their management.
Context
- The group’s R&D is narrowing its focus and becoming more international.
- Part of the team’s work is moving to another country. Management is changing, budgets are falling.
- The researchers feel they were kept out of this shift. Some are very worried, others are still enthusiastic but no longer know what is expected of them.
The challenge
Restore trust and clarity in one day, with a team whose first request is to be told the truth.
The design
Key ideas
Ask before presenting
An eight-question questionnaire, a few days before: an enthusiasm score, what would restore my confidence, ideas for cohesion, what I understand of the reorganisation slogans, what I am missing, and one piece of advice for the facilitators.
A one-page summary for management
flowAI summarises the answers on one page for the leadership team, with the most striking quotes. Five expectations come out: transparency, strategic clarity, meaning behind the changes, the future of the projects, mobilising talent.
Open with what the team said
The day does not start with a management presentation. It starts with the team’s own words, put up on the wall as they are, and read before anyone speaks.
Turn slogans into consequences
In small groups, the reorganisation slogans are translated project by project: what continues, what changes, what stops, and who does what.
How the time was used
- Open
- Explore
- Decide
- Celebrate
Before the day
Open
The questionnaire
Eight questions, anonymous answers.
Explore
The summary
One page for management, made with flowAI, with the striking quotes.
The day
MorningOpen
What you said
The quotes on the wall, read in silence, then shared in pairs.
Explore
Tell the truth
Written questions to management. Each one gets an answer, or the date it will get one.
Explore
What does not change
The expertise, the projects that continue, what the team is proud of.
AfternoonDecide
From slogans to consequences
In small groups, project by project: continue, change, stop.
Decide
Who does what
Everyone’s role in the new organisation, and what still needs clarifying.
Celebrate
Close
What I take away, what I am still waiting for.
The seminar in miniature
What you said
The day does not start with management. The quotes from the pre-day questionnaire are put up on the wall as they are, grouped under the five expectations that emerged: transparency, strategic clarity, meaning, the future of projects, talent. Everyone reads them in silence before anyone speaks.
In pairs
In front of the wall, researchers and engineers pair up and share what struck them in their colleaguesâ words. The team sees it has been heard, and the tone of the day shifts.
Tell the truth
Questions are written down, then put to management in plenary. Each gets an answer, or the date by which it will get one. A team that first asked to be told the truth leaves with the list of questions still open, and a dated commitment.
What does not change
Before talking about what is moving, the team sets down what stays. Three walls: its expertise, the projects that continue, and what it is proud of. Solid ground to stand on before tackling the reorganisation.
From slogans to consequences
A slogan does not tell anyone what to do on Monday. In small groups, in the breakout rooms, the reorganisation slogans are translated project by project: what continues, what changes, what stops.
Who does what
At tables, the team pins down everyone’s role in the new organisation, and writes down in black and white what still needs clarifying. It leaves with a roadmap it understands, because it helped sharpen it.
Close
In a circle, everyone says what they take away from the day and what they are still waiting for. The remaining expectations are not brushed aside: they join the list of open questions, each with its answer date.
What I take away: …
What I am still waiting for: …
The materials, redrawn
The pre-day questionnaire
Before the day · anonymous
1My enthusiasm today
2What would restore my confidence
3My ideas for team cohesion
4What I understand of the reorganisation messages
5What I think of them
6The information I am missing
7What I expect from the day
8One piece of advice for the facilitators
The opening wall
Deliverables and follow-up
- The one-page questionnaire summary, given to management before the day.
- A roadmap the team understands and helped to sharpen, with clarified roles.
- The list of questions still open, with the date management will answer them.
AI and digital tools
flowAI summarised the questionnaire answers on one page for management, keeping the most striking quotes.
What we take away
- A worried team first needs to be heard. Showing people their own words before any speech changes the tone of the day.
- A slogan tells nobody what to do on Monday. It has to be translated, project by project.
Working on something similar?
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