A caring team learns to stop judging itself — a staff team in the care sector

Quick answer

IMPROV Communication delivered a full-day 5 Guiding Principles training and energiser to a 24-person staff team in the care sector. The aim was to build a team that speaks up more openly and carries less self-judgement. In anonymous feedback, every one of the 24 respondents would recommend the experience, and the principle that spoke to them most was No Judgement of Yourself.

At a glance

• Client: a staff team in the care sector
• Engagement: 5 Guiding Principles training and energiser, June 2026
• Scale: 24 participants, one full-day off-site
• 100% would recommend the experience (24 of 24 respondents)
• 5.6 / 7 confidence to apply what they experienced
• 5.6 / 7 said the training is worth continuing

Source: anonymous post-session survey completed by all 24 participants, June 2026. Several responses were written in Danish and translated for this study.

Why they asked us in

This is a team in caring work, where people give a great deal of themselves to the young people they support. Teams like this often carry a hidden cost: the same care that makes them good at the work gets turned inward as self-criticism.

The team's lead brought the whole group together for a day off-site. The aim was a day that would help people speak up more openly with each other and spend less energy judging themselves.

The challenges that shaped our design:

• Self-judgement. People wrote, again and again, about how much energy goes into judging themselves — "energy that could be used much better".
• Holding back in the room. Several wanted to feel safe enough to say what they think at staff meetings.
• Nerves under pressure. A caring team is not always comfortable being put on the spot, and some named real unease about being out of their routine.

What we delivered

One full-day off-site for the entire 24-person team, led by experienced IMPROV facilitators, combining an energiser with the 5 Guiding Principles of IMPROV and the emotional intelligence research behind them.

The day followed the three-phase architecture at the heart of our methodology:

• Pre-training activation. Alignment with the team's lead on the aims and the tone for the day.
• The session itself. Experiential exercises grounded in psychological safety and the 5 Guiding Principles. Participants do, then reflect, then commit to one specific change.
• Post-training reinforcement. A 30-day sprint — eight short prompts over four weeks — built around the principle that landed hardest for this team: No Judgement of Yourself.

What the participants told us

Feedback was gathered through an anonymous survey straight after the day, measuring confidence to apply the ideas, openness to collaboration, and whether the training was worth continuing.

• Would recommend: 24 of 24.
• Confidence to apply: 5.6 / 7.
• Worth continuing: 5.6 / 7.

Three patterns stood out.

No Judgement of Yourself spoke to this team more than any other principle. The relief in people's words when given permission to stop judging themselves was the clearest result of the day.

Honesty ran deep. People named nerves, stress and self-doubt without hiding them — only possible in a room that already felt safe.

Discomfort turned into ease over the session. Several said directly that they began unsure and grew more comfortable as the exercises went on.

In their own words

I often judge myself and spend a lot of energy thinking about it — energy that could be used much better. — Participant

It creates the security for both people in a conversation to express what they feel and think. — Participant

I was uncomfortable with improvising, and ended up more comfortable as we worked through the exercises. — Participant

A nice space to be in. — Participant

What they committed to on Monday

• Speak up and say what they think at staff meetings.
• Be more open and honest with colleagues, and make room for safety.
• Talk to themselves the way they'd talk to a colleague — with less judgement.
• Be more curious, and listen more closely.

Bring this to your team

If you lead a team in caring or front-line work, you will recognise it: the people who give the most to others are often the hardest on themselves. What transfers is a day people feel rather than sit through, the 5 Guiding Principles as a shared language, and the three phases that turn an off-site into a habit that holds long after everyone is back at work.

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