Team Coaching

Making the Invisible, Visible

The biggest change I see is systemic. An intensifying combination of economic, social, and political issues is challenging business strategies. Factors like Artificial intelligence, automation a relentless focus on digitisation, has meant many organisations now need to reinvent how the work place is experienced. That’s not all. Our lexicon has shifted to focus on re-humanising work by placing real value on Purpose, Meaning Making and Empathy. The social enterprise is not a fad word but a phenomenon with wide appeal. To respond we need to be able to develop Leaders differently and reinvent our ability to learn.

To me part of the answer involves teams. To move into & explore new areas, markets, technologies & to appeal to a diverse workforce & learn, requires the effort of collaborative teams and teamwork. Too often organisations place great hope in the promise that the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” The reality is very often a different story.

While teams are vital to organizational performance, research shows that many teams are not high performing. Of 120 Senior Leadership Teams researched by Dr. Ruth Wageman & her colleagues, only 21% were deemed effective (2008) Work conducted by Price and Toye in 2017 says that only 13% of 3000 teams surveyed were highly effective. We seem to be missing the competencies, skills and ways of teaming.

Structural impediments persist. Centuries old command and control governance models produces Leaders who have been rewarded for taking personal accountability rather than sharing responsibility required of teams. The nature of our world with wicked problems such as this current pandemic call for greater amounts of distributed leadership, collaboration and an acceptance of our interdependence. This means a letting go of status and control and a relinquishing of established norms and ways of working that can stifle creativity and collaboration.

Team Collaboration

“It has been suggested that being in and learning to cooperate in groups is at the root of not only our business success but ‘of all our achievements as a species”

Christine Thornton

The current pandemic has reminded us of our humanity. Working with others is at the heart of our human condition. Team members, all humans, have a desire to belong, to demonstrate competence and have a measure of accountability. It is tricky establishing all three. Conflict & simmering tension on teams is often a consequence. Team coaching has evolved in response to real time issues. A team coach works live with a team at work.

“Team Coaching is a relationship that reveals team generated synergy toward a shared purpose that respects and leverages the unique strengths of each member and accelerates both team and individual performance”

Janet Harvey, MCC.

Improving the factors that impede team performance, social and emotional intelligence and combining both with an approach that optimises the essential conditions for team effectiveness such as; a compelling purpose, the right team members, being a real team, sound structures and a supportive context is the work of Team Coaching. If we accept that teams are the new unit of currency in organisations, we must also accept that to commission teams to be the creative forces they can be requires work, support & development in a sustainable manner. One of the enabling conditions for team effectiveness is coaching, which is why Team Coaching has grown as a legitimate response .

If we accept that teams are the new unit of currency in organisations, we must also accept that to commission teams to be the creative forces they can be requires work, support & development in a sustainable manner. One of the enabling conditions for team effectiveness is coaching, which is why Team Coaching has grown as a legitimate response.

Team Coaching Process

01. Align

A team launch helps the team get clear on their real purpose, objectives and goals and how they will work together to achieve these. The upfront diagnostic information is used to help the team determine where the work best needs to start. I employ a number of methodologies and models to support the work involved. The output is a clear and agreed team charter

02. Develop

Post the team launch the team commits to a suite of development coaching sessions. These sessions last between 2-3 hours and focus on a goal desired by the team, which is related to their stated objectives from the align phase. In addition the team can use the time to work on the team’s process to challenge the efficacy of stated norms. For an individual I typically agree a series of 1:1 conversations staged over an agreed period to support practice between conversations. The intent is clear to affect transformational change.

03. Deliver

Subsequent to the team development coaching sessions I help my client’s assess what has changed and what needs to be communicated to stakeholders. I facilitate a discussion and review of the work conducted between us including tasks, projects, milestones and new processes. We use this time to help determine what has been learnt and what still needs refinement. Often a new narrative is communicated to the organisation.

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