Strengthening Psychological Safety and Collaboration at DJSIR

Why they came to Lucy:

Working in a high-pressure, fast-paced government environment, the DJSIR Communications Team was experiencing the typical stressors that come with delivering high-impact work on tight deadlines. While the team was high performing, there were growing signs of fatigue, unclear role boundaries, and missed opportunities for open, honest communication. Collaboration was strong in parts but inconsistent, and psychological safety essential for healthy feedback and team cohesion, needed reinforcement.

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DJSIR engaged Lucy to:

• Strengthen psychological safety and team trust
• Improve collaboration, communication, and role clarity
• Encourage honest conversations around team dynamics and expectations
• Improve and streamline ways of working across the group
• Enhance individual and collective wellbeing
• Build a more connected, resilient, and high-performing team culture
• Foster accountability and commitment through a co-created Ways of Working Team Agreement
• Develop sustainable behaviours that could be implemented beyond the workshop environment

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The work they did together

Lucy partnered with the Principal Strategic Adviser and the Communications team to design and deliver a targeted wellbeing, psychological safety, and high-performance program. This included a series of in-person and online workshops tailored to the team's unique challenges and goals. 

The program featured:

• A  series of workshops focused on psychological safety, values alignment, team behaviours, and communication habits
• Guided reflection tools and pre-session surveys to uncover real-time team needs and shape tailored content
• A co-created Team Agreement outlining clear expectations, aligned behaviours, and shared commitments
• Accountability mechanisms and actionable next steps to embed new ways of working into daily practice
• Education on stress, burnout, and the BRAVE Framework, helping team members proactively prevent burnout and enhance wellbeing
• Use of Agile sprint methodology to test and refine improvements to collaboration, workflow, and team culture
• Safe, structured spaces where team members could speak up, connect meaningfully, and feel genuinely heard—free from judgement or hierarchy

Throughout the engagement, Lucy created a calm and focused environment that balanced empathy with accountability. Her facilitation, grounded in the BRAVE Burnout Prevention

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The outcomes they saw

Following the engagement, the team reported significant improvements in:

• Cohesion and trust: Team members felt safer to speak openly, offer feedback, and raise concerns without fear
• Ways of working: Greater clarity around roles, improved workflow, and stronger alignment between operational and strategic efforts
• Feedback culture: A shift toward constructive, fact-based dialogue that supports continuous improvement
• Wellbeing: Increased individual awareness and ownership of personal wellbeing, with strategies to manage stress and prevent burnout
• Shared accountability: The co-created Ways of Working Team Agreement is now a cornerstone of team culture, guiding behaviours and decisions

This program provided the space and structure for meaningful connection, honest dialogue, and long-lasting behavioural change—laying the foundation for a more resilient, high-performing team.