As we know, most teams are part of an organisational context that often has a decisive impact on the team’s efforts. A team therefore needs to be provided with the right conditions by the organisation in order to be effective. Susan Wheelan created a checklist for organisational support (the OSC), which is a tool that is well suited as a complement to any analysis of the team’s processes and stage assessment to enable an overall picture of the team’s core problems and their potential causes to be obtained.
What can the tool be used for?
The information obtained through an OSC is aimed at mapping and evaluating the support a team receives within the organisation. The section analysis included in the OSC report can serve as an aid in identifying areas with strong organisational support and areas where the organisational support needs to be improved. The results are reported at group level and the supporting documentation can also be used to plan measures.
The OSC report
The report contains a brief theoretical description which focuses on the type of support that groups benefit from and may require within an organisation. The team’s perception of the organisational support is compiled in a section assessment and section analysis in which the areas requiring more focus, according to the group, are marked. The report also includes an intervention template that can be used as a starting point for a behavioural analysis based on selected focus areas.