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Team Coaching

The dilemma

Here's a typical organizational challenge. Does it sound familiar?

Take a group of people; put them in a room; give them an organizational problem to solve; come back three hours later. Upon your return (assuming that what you find doesn't look like the aftermath of Little Big Horn) ask them the following question:

"Did you solve the problem?"

If the answer is "yes," proceed to the ensuing question:

"From among the following choices, where does your support stand regarding the solution?" Peter Senge sees support as existing at one of five levels:

Commitment - Wants it. Makes it happen.
Enrollment - Wants it. Contributes within the "spirit of the law."
Genuine Compliance - Sees benefits. Follows "letter of the law."
Formal Compliance - Sees some benefits. Does no more than expected.
Grudging Compliance - Sees no benefits Does some of what's expected.

Now we find that "yes" doesn't necessarily mean "yes." Most managers, however, would be willing to live with any "yes" regardless of the true degree of support.

Why?

For some, it's just the velocity of work. Things are moving so fast, they believe that just getting things done is all they can hope for. Others don't understand the consequences, don't know what to do, or both.

The consequences: Over time, organizations deteriorate when people are compliant or obedient. Disengagement is a quiet malignancy that grows slowly and results in ultimate failure. Its genesis is tough to pinpoint. In frustration, managers concoct solutions like: "Let's throw them a party to make them feel appreciated!"

Now there's creative thinking!

What We Do and How We Do It

Teams, whether intact teams (like senior management teams) or initiative teams (like project teams), are most successful when they skillfully achieve planned results; when they understand their authority, responsibility, autonomy and accountability. That occurs when teams are proficient in:

• Interpersonal management and leadership
• Team management and leadership
• Team problem solving

We will work with teams, in both a coaching and consulting capacity, to become effective (achieving planned results) and efficient (doing so as expeditiously as possible) in those practices.

Some specific areas on which we'll focus are:

• Assessing a team's preparedness for high performance
• Working through the stages of team development
• Ascertaining the appropriate composition of skills for a project team
• Completing executive assessments for succession planning
• Developing roles and responsibilities for members based upon skills and the norms of "team management"
• Imparting technical problem solving skills
• Teaching meeting management skills
• Coaching team leaders to lead

Teams become effective when skills and tools are applied to relevant issues. The "wilderness experience" approach to "team building" is not one that we endorse or practice.

Coaching and consulting complement each other in the development of effective teams. Consulting imparts the requisite knowledge and skills and applies them to a specific business challenge. Coaching helps teams internalize and sustain the skills and establish the behavioral routines required to drive permanent change and dramatically augment performance.

We'd love to work with you to take the performance of your teams through the roof!

Do you have questions? See Frequently Asked Questions.