TeamTech’s trauma-informed organizational work
For more than 30 years, TeamTech has partnered with organizations, primarily nonprofit and governmental, to help grow their capacity and leadership strength.
From the very beginning, we’ve done this through strategic planning and implementation – top to bottom – using all voices. For the past 25 years, we’ve utilized our innovative leadership curriculum, Everyone A Leader®, which teaches how to lead at all levels in a facilitative style grounded in trauma-informed principles.
Why Trauma-Informed?
Most of the organizations we work with serve the most vulnerable individuals in our communities who have often experienced trauma. We have learned that the people who work to help these individuals can and do experience secondary trauma and burnout.
In 2017, we added a service line to TeamTech that brings the neuroscience of trauma to the forefront, recognizing trauma as the root cause of so many of the societal challenges that touch those served by the organizations we serve. Challenges like substance use, mental health issues, and violence. Our service line, Remarkably Resilient®, strives to highlight the impact of trauma while providing insights on healing and strengthening resilience.
Any organization can benefit from trauma-informed practices. A recent Gallup poll found that 60% of people are emotionally detached at work. Only 33% of employees are engaged at work. 41% experience worry on a daily basis and 50% experience high levels of stress on a daily basis.
We know that overall wellbeing influences life at work, and vice versa. Another study finds that 70% of U.S. adults have experienced at least one trauma in their lives.
Burnout and toxic stress have created an environment where productivity in the workplace and employee wellbeing are intrinsically tied. Based on its finding, this same 2022 Gallup poll declares that “Employee wellbeing is the new workplace imperative.”
By incorporating trauma-informed practices and developing trauma-informed leaders, organizations can help to build resilience and manage the overwhelming daily stress, long-term toxic stress/trauma, and burnout felt by the majority of working adults.
These practices have been a part of TeamTech’s work from the beginning, and play a part in all of our strategic planning and capacity building work.
Recent Work: Case Study
In August 2022, TeamTech was selected as one of three businesses to assist Sarasota, Florida’s Housing Service System in becoming trauma-informed with the support of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. This work includes assisting the lead agency in their CoC (Community of Care).
TeamTech, in partnership with The Leading Impact, facilitated two-day strategic thinking retreats with four agencies.
Each retreat focused on the agency crafting together their common vision for a trauma-informed organization in relation to their reality, and identified ways to remove barriers to their vision.
TeamTech facilitated the work, using our proprietary strategic thinking process, and demonstrating a trauma-informed approach to helping teams think together in an environment that is safe, empowering, provides choice and voice, collaboration and trust; where all voices are truly equal and allows everyone to participate and share their ideas.
The following are just a few points from the feedback given by these four agencies on what they felt was accomplished during the retreat:
• Actively listened to each other
• Moved forward past road blocks
• Brainstormed strategic plans to incorporate trauma information in all areas
• Helped to create an environment of open communication
• Identified workgroups to get things done
• Identified responsible parties
• Became a more cohesive organization
• Identified training needs
• Identified strategies to improve internal communication
• Learned that every voice in the company is important – how to make it one unified voice
• Non-judgemental and uninterrupted brainstorming
• Stepped away from distractions to focus on vision and system