their organisation and sector moves. Useful on a number of levels, and good recognition for the leader, but in terms of development, it has limitations. When the achievement of organisational goals requires collaboration, shared discussions between team members, fast and quality decision-making it is likely that teams will do this better than one lone individual CEO/leader, providing certain things are in play. Strong leaders today, create the space and the environment that allows and encourages their people to learn together and flourish. Sounds simple, but with day-to-day pressures it can be hard for leaders to achieve this, that’s where the team coach can step in. So where do you start when embarking on a Team Coaching Engagement? A team coach will be curious about the team’s purpose – its WHY. i.e., why is the team formed as it is, who is it there to serve, what is it that they must do together that they cannot do apart. We ask this in service of the team, its growth and what it’s there to achieve, not to judge and not because we know better – we don’t. But coaching requires confidence in their ability to sit with the response – whatever that may be, and a little bravery, to ask these and other questions that an outsider typically doesn’t ask. That’s because the team won’t typically ask themselves these questions. How has PHQ developed the concept of Team Coaching for its clients? Clients typically approach us to discuss a team development program when things could be better within the team – something’s not functioning as well as it could be, or they’ve acquired some employee feedback or data that the team’s way of operating is negatively impacting in some way. We spend time sharing our approach to designing bespoke team programs – that will typically include some or all of the components below. Where we start depends where the team is at, in terms of its maturity and what is important for them and the organisation to focus on and team member confidence to have the necessary conversations without fear or favour. Then, based on what they’re aiming to achieve as a team, sharing the themes from the Discovery, we ask the team where they think they need to start, rather than us telling them where we think they should start. At the same time, we always share that we aspire for teams to move towards the right-hand bar [the ‘purest’ area of team coaching], which shifts the power base from the facilitator to the team - , which is where it should be in our view. It’s our job to move ourselves out of a job, if you will! What’s the role of the leader in Team Coaching? The CEO/Team Leader role is key to the success of team coaching: They set the scene and reinforce the importance of collective learning as well as the Figure 1 - The Components of Team Development. Adapted from Mastering the Art of Team Coaching; G. Woudstra, 2021.
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