The animal caretakers of Zoo Antwerp and Zoo Planckendael, part of the KMDA group, are deeply passionate about their work. Every day, they dedicate themselves to the well-being of the animals, doing their utmost to provide the best possible care. However, within teams, differences in approaches or perspectives can sometimes arise, making it important to address issues directly and “name the elephant in the room.” Due to their strong emotional attachment to the animals, they don’t always convey their message in the right way to colleagues, or the communication may be received poorly by others.
For the sake of both their own well-being at work and providing the best care for the animals, effective communication within teams is essential. KMDA decided to tackle the issue head-on and approached The Tipping Point with the request to provide tools and practical frameworks in a hands-on workshop to strengthen team communication.
For this practically oriented target group, which has limited time and diverse backgrounds (ranging from farmers to engineers), it was essential for KMDA to convey the necessary communication insights and techniques within just half a day. This training needed to be tailored to the specific challenges of each team and delivered in a straightforward, practically applicable manner.
Additionally, it was important to strike the right balance between creating a safe environment where team members feel comfortable opening up to one another and holding up a confrontational mirror to reflect on team dynamics and different communication styles.
We began with a pilot session on “Feedback and Communication” for the coordinators (team leads) of all teams. Based on the input and feedback from this session, we were able to further tailor the training for the teams to meet the specific needs and context of the target group.
Subsequently, each team of animal caretakers at Zoo Antwerp and Zoo Planckendael participated in a half-day “Team Communication” session. During this workshop, they learned the success formula for delivering a message effectively and how to apply this within their own work context. The animal caretakers were challenged to take responsibility and focus on the clarity and acceptance of their message to achieve their conversational goals.
They had the opportunity to understand each other’s communication styles and experimented with adapting their communication approach to meet the needs of others, which are often situation- and context-dependent. Using real-life cases, participants gained insight into the pitfalls of their communication, while trainers provided concrete conversational techniques to help them avoid these. By the end of the session, each participant had the chance to refine and share their personal communication guide, and the team used this to establish concrete team agreements.
Finally, a debrief of the sessions was held with the head of the animal caretakers’ department and the HR team to explore follow-up actions that could help embed the newly acquired insights and communication guide within the organization. The department head also conducted 1-2-1 discussions with each team coordinator to determine how they would use the guide within their teams. Furthermore, teams were encouraged to share communication “best practices” as a recurring agenda item in their team meetings.
Under the guidance of the trainers, underlying dynamics and pitfalls in team communication were uncovered and openly discussed within each team. Based on these insights, clear agreements and ground rules were established collectively to prevent future (conflict) situations.
The training served as a starting point for the animal caretakers to engage with various stakeholders and take ownership of effectively delivering their message, minimizing communication noise. A shared language was developed, and the communication guide provided a framework (both individually and as a team) to keep the topic alive even after the learning journey.
Thanks to enthusiastic word-of-mouth feedback from participants, other teams were naturally motivated to attend the sessions, and even other departments within KMDA became curious. As a result of this training, the HR team received multiple requests from other teams to follow the same workshop.
For this practically oriented target group, which has limited time and diverse backgrounds (ranging from farmers to engineers), it was essential for KMDA to convey the necessary communication insights and techniques within just half a day. This training needed to be tailored to the specific challenges of each team and delivered in a straightforward, practically applicable manner.
Additionally, it was important to strike the right balance between creating a safe environment where team members feel comfortable opening up to one another and holding up a confrontational mirror to reflect on team dynamics and different communication styles.
We began with a pilot session on “Feedback and Communication” for the coordinators (team leads) of all teams. Based on the input and feedback from this session, we were able to further tailor the training for the teams to meet the specific needs and context of the target group.
Subsequently, each team of animal caretakers at Zoo Antwerp and Zoo Planckendael participated in a half-day “Team Communication” session. During this workshop, they learned the success formula for delivering a message effectively and how to apply this within their own work context. The animal caretakers were challenged to take responsibility and focus on the clarity and acceptance of their message to achieve their conversational goals.
They had the opportunity to understand each other’s communication styles and experimented with adapting their communication approach to meet the needs of others, which are often situation- and context-dependent. Using real-life cases, participants gained insight into the pitfalls of their communication, while trainers provided concrete conversational techniques to help them avoid these. By the end of the session, each participant had the chance to refine and share their personal communication guide, and the team used this to establish concrete team agreements.
Finally, a debrief of the sessions was held with the head of the animal caretakers’ department and the HR team to explore follow-up actions that could help embed the newly acquired insights and communication guide within the organization. The department head also conducted 1-2-1 discussions with each team coordinator to determine how they would use the guide within their teams. Furthermore, teams were encouraged to share communication “best practices” as a recurring agenda item in their team meetings.
Under the guidance of the trainers, underlying dynamics and pitfalls in team communication were uncovered and openly discussed within each team. Based on these insights, clear agreements and ground rules were established collectively to prevent future (conflict) situations.
The training served as a starting point for the animal caretakers to engage with various stakeholders and take ownership of effectively delivering their message, minimizing communication noise. A shared language was developed, and the communication guide provided a framework (both individually and as a team) to keep the topic alive even after the learning journey.
Thanks to enthusiastic word-of-mouth feedback from participants, other teams were naturally motivated to attend the sessions, and even other departments within KMDA became curious. As a result of this training, the HR team received multiple requests from other teams to follow the same workshop.
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