Team development that only happens once a year isn't development, it's an event, and an event doesn't build a habit.
Team Spark® is presented by me, Dr Craig Newman, a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, and built together with Dr Cordet Smart, a Chartered Coaching and Occupational Psychologist.
The approach behind it grew out of work we did together on the Devon Digital Accelerator (120+ teams across the whole of Devon primary care over 18 months, which won a Digital Innovation Award), then taken national when NHS England commissioned a three-year programme coaching its national digital-transformation team, 150+ teams in total across both. We now bring that same approach to SMEs and organisations directly.
Two psychologists, one programme
Dr Craig Newman
Co-creator
Chartered Clinical Psychologist, HCPC-registered (PYL27965). BPS Chartered Psychologist (Coaching Psychology, doctoral level). DClinPsych (Plymouth), PhD (Keele). 23 years' experience. Also behind other clinical and coaching tools.
Dr Cordet Smart
Co-creator
BPS Chartered Coaching Psychologist and Chartered Occupational Psychologist. PhD (Open University), MSc Organisational Psychology (Birkbeck, Distinction). Background in NHS adult nursing leadership before psychology.
A track record with the NHS, at scale
Team Spark comes from UXC Group. These figures are UXC Group's work with the NHS.
4,000+
NHS staff coached since 2018
150+
teams supported, local to national scale
100+
NHS service-development projects led
15,000+
wellbeing sessions delivered to NHS staff at no cost
Project5: free wellbeing support for NHS staff
- Set up by Craig and Cordet at the start of COVID-19, with the NHS wellbeing taskforce
- A free national wellbeing and coaching service for NHS staff, built in weeks
- Delivered entirely by volunteers
- More than 15,000 wellbeing sessions at no cost to the NHS, valued at over £1.5m
Award-winning work, judged by people with no stake in saying so.
2020 · Points of Light Award, the Prime Minister’s award for Project5
2019 · BMJ Awards, Education Team of the Year (winner)
2018 · HSJ Awards (winner)
2017 · BMJ Awards, Innovation (commendation)
2016 · BMJ Awards, Neurology (winner)
2016 · HSJ Patient Safety Awards, Education and Training in Patient Safety (winner)
2024 · Tech South West Spotlight Award (winner)
2020 · Building Better Healthcare Award, Best Use of Technology (winner)
2017 · Health Business Awards, Healthcare IT Award (winner)
2016 · SUDEP Institute Challenge, 1st place (USA)
“The coaching has been very good. It’s allowing me the psychological safety to explore why something’s going wrong, and then start sorting it.”
“Deeper peer-to-peer conversation than I’ve ever had with practice managers. We can be highly combative, but this was genuine cooperation and curiosity.”
“Probably the most important project I’ve been involved with in my last 18 years in general practice.”
Named research, not a vague nod to “the science”.
Every idea in the programme is grounded in, built on, or informed by published research. So is the advice in every insights and suggestions report: our psychologists write it, and AI matches it to what your team said.
Citing this work is not the same as claiming any of these researchers endorse Team Spark. They don't, and we've never suggested they do.
What we won't do
We don't administer psychometrics or score your team against anyone else's.
We never show a manager what an individual person said. The anonymity threshold applies to managers too.
We won't claim a percentage improvement we can't point to a source for; every figure we do cite, we can tell you where it came from.
We won't cite a number we can't source. Every stat on this site carries where it came from, or it's clearly marked as our own opinion.
Questions go to a person, not a queue.
If you want to talk this through before your team starts, get in touch.
craig@dreamteamspark.com