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Kathryn Harries Kathryn Harries has over two decades of experience working in, with and leading or coordinating technical field teams in humanitarian and development contexts. She has recently developed a guide to support and empower these teams, which is available at www.teamimpactkit.com.
Abstract
There is inadequate support for leadership, management and learning within technical field teams in humanitarian organisations, and this hinders timely, effective humanitarian action. This paper describes the journey to develop the Field Team Impact Kit (FieldTiK), an approach that provides practical guidance and tools, rather than just soft skills, to improve field team performance. It addresses the recognised challenges: that support for team leaders is scarce, access to relevant resources is often poor, team knowledge is incompletely retained, and adapting and continually improving can be difficult. Sector experts overwhelmingly agreed that use of the FieldTiK would fill a significant gap, particularly for local non-governmental organisations, enabling improved outcomes, including in accountability, locally led response, quality, adaptability, safeguarding and team well-being.