Skip to main content

Our Purpose


At Affina, we believe teams are the heartbeat of great health and care services. That’s why everything we do is about building effective teams and positive workplace cultures — grounded in research and real-world practice.

Our purpose is simple: invest in the teams behind care and you unlock better outcomes for everyone. We drive systemic impact by strengthening collaboration where it matters most.

What we offer

We’ve been supporting teams for over 21 years (yes, we just had our big birthday!). As part of the Skills for Care Group, a registered charity, we’re proud to reinvest back into the sector, developing new tools and supporting better care outcomes across the system.

Our team of experienced executive and systemic team coaches have deep roots in the NHS and social care. We’ve been there – and we understand the day-to-day challenges teams face.

With a broad understanding of people, behaviour and how teams really work, we offer support that helps teams grow stronger together and do their best work.

Here’s how we do it:

  • The Affina Team Journey – developing team effectiveness using a practical, evidence-based approach
  • Diagnostics (ATPI, ARTP+, CAT, PAT) – helping teams, organisations and partnerships understand where they are now and where they’re heading
  • Facilitator support – equipping your own people with the skills to lead lasting change
  • CPD-certified training – learning that counts toward professional development
  • Cyber Essentials-certified – keeping your data safe

Why trust us?

Because this isn’t a new idea – we were co-founded by Professor Michael West in 2003 and have supported thousands of teams across the UK. We use proven, evidence-based methods. A study of data from over 1000 teams that monitor their performance using our team assessments found significant improvements in all aspects of team working.

We’re here when you need us

Have a question?
Want to talk something through?

Our friendly helpdesk team is just an email or call away.

*This video opens in YouTube. By following the link you may be presented with cookies from google. For more information about how Google uses data from sites or apps that use their services, please visit Google’s Privacy & Terms page.

Our Values

Evidence-based

Our tools and solutions are firmly grounded on research findings from the fields of organisational psychology, social psychology and positive psychology.

Outcome-focused

Our consultancy, coaching and training interventions are tailored to achieve specific organisational, team and individual goals.

Excellence

We aim for the highest standards in all that we do – we only work in areas in which we have personal expertise and robust knowledge.

Developing in-house competency

We transfer ownership and delivery of development programmes to our clients as quickly as possible. It is never our aim to develop “consultant dependency”.

Trusted, lasting relationships

We create space for mutual learning and shared growth, working alongside organisations, our approach is rooted in collaboration, not competition. 

Belonging

Through continuous improvement and development, we seek to embed equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do – both in how we work and in the impact we create with our clients.

Our Timeline: 2003-Present Day

We are a company of pioneers in team-based working, helping organisations to improve team effectiveness and enabling better outcomes for those accessing care. We’ve been doing this for 22 years.

AOD is born
AOD is born
Lynn Markiewicz and Professor Michael West form Aston Organisation Development (AOD) to promote the evidence behind team-based working in healthcare.
ATPI launch
ATPI launch

Firmly based on 20 years of leading global research, the Aston Team Performance Inventory shows how well a team is working.

  • 18 Dimensions
  • 52 Components
First office
First office
We move to our own premises near Farnham.
The Team Journey
The Team Journey
Starting life as a workbook, the first slim volume leaves our shelves like the proverbial hotcakes! The journey moves online in 2012 and, as the Affina Team Journey, gets a new look and feel in 2023.
MSC programme
MSC programme
We provide the Team Journey as part of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme, a national NHS master’s degree in Healthcare Leadership.
Scale and pace
Scale and pace
We launch the team coach approach to embedding team-based working across an organisation and train 4 in-house coaches to support 151 teams at North Staffordshire NHS Trust.
Major investment
Major investment
We reinvest into the business, allowing us to improve our online systems, develop our culture assessment tool and expand our team of core staff and hugely experienced associates.
Skills for Care
Skills for Care
We become part of Skills for Care, securing our future and developing solutions for working across boundaries in health and social care.
We become Affina
We become Affina
…and Sarah-Jane Dale joins us to lead AOD.

‘affina’ in Italian: to improve

… in Latin: a workshop

Awards – go Team Barts!
Awards – go Team Barts!
Barts Health wins a prestigious CIPD People Management Award for its approach to team coaching. As its partner, AOD is there to celebrate.
Australia
Australia
Associate consultant, Michele White, runs our first programme down under.
New research
New research
Over our 21 years, we’ve worked with thousands of teams. We ask researchers from two leading universities to study our data. They find significant evidence of impact when teams take part in team assessment or development activities. We present results at the AOD symposium and Do OD conference.
Onwards & upwards
Onwards & upwards
We continue to support individuals, teams and systems in the complex landscape of health and social care reform, with a focus on:
  • Integrated Care Systems
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Multi-disciplinary teams
  • Senior leadership teams
  • Frameworks (DPS)

How We Help

Building High Performing Teams

Creating a solid foundation for team-based
working via:

Creating a Positive Workplace Culture

Shaping a high performing and compassionate culture via:

Supporting Organisational Development

Equipping your practitioners with essential skills and support via: