Building Consensus: Uniting Newly Merged Departments for Long-Term Success

A Quick and Engaging Workshop That Fostered Alignment and Strengthened Team Cohesion 

York Region Children’s Aid Society (YRCAS) is a non-profit community organization legally mandated to promote the well-being, best interests and protection of children and youth from abuse and neglect. As a leader within the child welfare sector, we aim to keep families together and partner with parents, caregivers and community to help create and sustain safe environments for children and youth, through equitable, child-centred, culturally aligned services. 

Using Sidekick’s Entrepreneurial Design™ Framework to summarize the YRCAS Business Model

The Challenge 

The York Region Children’s Aid Society is undergoing a transformative redesign of its child welfare services, emphasizing child, youth, and family wellbeing. Guided by their strategic plan, a key part of this transformation involved merging three departments into one unified team, focused on advancing the agency’s advocacy and communication efforts, enhancing community engagement, and integrating equity into all practices and services.   

In naming this new department, the organization saw an opportunity to bring together the teams and foster a shared identity. However,  

with this merging of teams, YRCAS Leadership understood the potential risk of alienation and disengagement if the name did not reflect the contributions of all team members.  

The Solution 

This was an opportunity for a fun and engaging team-building workshop. In just half a day, Sidekick led an inclusive and dynamic session focused on consensus building, starting with a clear brief to align on the end goal. 

Using tailored tools to get the job done, YRCAS and Sidekick first defined what consensus meant to everyone in the group, which allowed them to understand the task at hand through a ‘Naming Brief’ and gain further alignment.  

Through interactive brainstorming sessions and collaborative rounds of idea generation and utilizing the ‘Yes, And’ method, team members contributed their perspectives, allowing them to build on each other’s suggestions in a supportive environment. Each team member sought a name that honoured their individual legacies. Navigating these diverse preferences required a thoughtful and collaborative approach to ensure the final name resonated with everyone involved. 

Our process not only addressed the naming task, but it also reinforced connections among colleagues. We aligned diverse viewpoints, providing a platform for all perspectives to be voiced. 

Working with the YRCAS team, we were able to adapt our facilitation strategies to meet the diverse needs of their people, turning challenges into opportunities for growth and fostering a positive organizational environment in just a few hours. 

The Impact 

With the merging and official naming of this new department, a milestone of the the broader organizational transformation was achieved.  

The new department now has a name that resonates with everyone, transforming initial tensions into enthusiasm and connection. By engaging the teams in this intentional and inclusive workshop, we helped them navigate a potential cultural hurdle, reinforcing a sense of ownership and agency, thus increasing employee engagement and team connections.