Interview with Alison Coward

Q. Could you briefly introduce yourself?

 Alison Coward, founder of Bracket, and author of A Pocket Guide to Effective Workshops. Bracket is a consultancy that helps creative and digital teams work better together. I’m a workshop facilitator and I’ve been working in and leading creative teams for more than 15 years. I’m passionate about finding the perfect balance between creativity and productivity, helping teams to use the best of their talents to develop great ideas and make them happen. I’ve worked with clients across many sectors from Fortune 500 companies to startups.

Q: What will your talk be about, exactly? Why this topic?

Designing a high-performing team

We all need to work in teams to solve complex problems, innovate and create great products. Yet effective collaboration remains a challenge for many. How can we make the most of the collective expertise in a team, whilst ensuring that each person can work in a way that enables them to do their best work?

In this talk Alison will share her insights on characteristics of high-performing teams, principles for designing an effective team culture and how to create good team habits that stick.
 

Q: What do you think could be the main gain for participants in your session?

Starting to think more intentionally about how to create the environment for everyone in their team to do their best work together. There will be practical tips as well as broader ideas to get them thinking differently about how they approach teamwork.

Q: Can you give some advice to teams/organisations that are transitioning to agile? 

I’m not an agile expert ?  

Q: You have given many interviews/presentations about agile. Is there a question you wish to have been asked but no one ever asked you?

I haven’t given any presentations about agile particularly, but hope my contribution about teamwork and workshops will be valuable.