Client: International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) – The Task Force for Global Health
Challenge: Expanding the team’s scope to include child survival interventions while maintaining a high level of team performance and preventing burnout amidst new challenges and uncertainties.
Outcome: Enhanced team resilience and preparedness for program expansion, fostering a supportive and adaptive work culture.
The International Trachoma Initiative team works every day to eliminate preventable blindness caused by trachoma - transforming the lives of millions. With this incredible goal and mission, the team works under prolonged pressure, with a lot at stake. Recently, the stakes and the phenomenal impact of this team have only increased. Now the team will be working not only to eliminate preventable blindness, but they will also be reducing child mortality.
In the fight against trachoma, a debilitating eye disease, the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) has played a pivotal role. As part of the Task Force for Global Health, ITI collaborates with the World Health Organization, the Ministries of Health, and government agencies to distribute azithromycin, a critical antibiotic donated by Pfizer, to areas heavily impacted by trachoma. This coordinated effort aims to eliminate trachoma by reducing bacterial infections that lead to blindness.
ITI was presented with a new opportunity when recent studies revealed that azithromycin also significantly reduces child mortality rates by approximately 14% in regions plagued by pneumonia, diarrhea, and other deadly diseases. This magnitude of decrease is comparable to other child survival interventions like measles vaccination, malaria control, and oral rehydration for diarrhea. This discovery prompted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to invite ITI to expand its efforts to facilitate twice-a-year treatment of children five years of age and under as an intervention for child survival beginning in three target countries. This expansion requires ITI to navigate new technical areas and measures of impact, form new partnerships, and manage additional responsibilities. The new direction and expansion, while exciting, also bring a sense of uncertainty and the potential for burnout among the team.
Hummingly was brought in to help this incredibly dedicated, high functioning team prepare themselves for this change and to avoid burnout in the process.
Jolie from Hummingly led a workshop at ITI's retreat in North Carolina, introducing practical tools and strategies to help the team manage change and maintain resilience. One of the key elements of Jolie's workshop was the use of Doing Well cards, which provided engaging and actionable insights for team members.
“The Doing Well cards were a big hit,” said Dr David Addiss from ITI’s umbrella organization The Task Force for Global Health. “People could see very easily some of the messages that they wanted to hear for themselves, and they shared certain cards with others. One of the team members brought his cards home to his family and they used them in the family context to identify strengths and weaknesses in areas where they want to improve. It was very well received and found useful for work and their personal lives.”
The workshop equipped ITI's team with the tools to navigate their expanded mission with confidence. The combination of practical strategies and engaging activities helped to alleviate some of the uncertainties and fostered a culture of support and adaptability.
“At the time of the retreat, people didn’t know yet if they were going to be assigned to child survival or stay with trachoma or do both. And there's still a lot of uncertainty. But the Doing Well cards provided a fun way of being reminded of key messages and ways to help manage that change.”
“This is a highly professional team. They do a lot of international travel. They’re young but very mature, very self-aware, very highly functioning, and very supportive of each other. And even among such a highly functioning team the Doing Well cards have been valuable. The team recognized the value of that extra support.”
“Jolie's personality and approach made the experience enjoyable and impactful,” David added. “Even the skeptics in the team saw the value by the end of the workshop. It was a valuable exercise that provided the team with much-needed support during a time of significant change.”
Looking forward, ITI is poised to continue its vital work in eliminating trachoma while also contributing to child survival in some of the world's most vulnerable regions. With the tools and strategies provided by Hummingly, ITI's highly professional and dedicated team is better prepared to embrace these new challenges and thrive amidst the changes.
