External Links:

Team Coaching

with

Jill Fairbairns (BA MSc C Psychol AFBPsS)

Team coaching focuses on a whole team’s performance and the value that all team members together can add to the business. The results that can be achieved are ‘more than the sum of the parts’. Team coaching is concerned with relationships of the whole team with their joint stakeholders; with the team’s purpose, objectives and action, and collective measures of performance. It’s a powerful process that produces significant results by engaging everyone in developing and sustaining high performance in the team as a whole.

Stage one: Diagnosis of current situation

Contract for the work with the whole team, including the leader.
Meet for initial discussions with individual team members about the current state of the team; expectations and needs of the business; how the team needs to function to meet these needs, and ideas for the way forward.
Offer a set of diagnostic activities and measures to establish the baseline for the team coaching programme. Focus areas could be: external business context; expectations of sponsors and stakeholders; current team plans and performance; ways of working in the team; mutual expectations of team members; individual differences.

Methods range widely: e.g. observation of team meetings; 360° appraisal of the team; interviews; desk research; off-the-shelf questionnaires; psychometric inventories.
Team selects diagnostic package and decides which parts to undertake for themselves and which to invite the coach to carry out.
Whole team meets to digest findings of the diagnosis; to review priorities for team coaching and sketch out objectives and elements for the team coaching programme.

Stage two: Team coaching programme

Re-contract with the whole team for the team coaching programme. Timescales are variable at this point. The process could last from 6 to 18 months.
We proceed with the programme, which is formed from the team’s selection of the following elements:
- Regular coaching sessions with each team member on issues of leadership and team membership
- Process facilitation of team management or business meetings to encourage team reflection in real time on ways of working together - about once a month
- Team development workshops – to improve collective leadership and interpersonal dynamics.
Progress review of the programme and re-contracting at pre-set points.
End with a learning review in the team.

A dispersed or fragmented group has to deliver results together as a team
In a post-merger situation, a divided team has to become one and improve its performance
After the arrival of a new leader, the relationships in the team have to be refreshed and re-aligned
The top team has to create vision, values, strategy and objectives for the organisation.

Jill works at clients' premises, at her own offices in West London, and by telephone.

Contact:

jill@jillfairbairns.com

Several months after a merger, a new leader from one legacy organisation was appointed to a transnational team formed mostly from the other one. At the same time a new round of severe cost cutting was imposed on the whole company.

Team coaching programme focused on clarifying team purpose in relation to business need, establishing a team scorecard, building and maintaining relationships with senior stakeholders. At the same time they personally led an initiative on change management processes and skills involving staff down to first line leadership level. It involved meeting facilitation, individual coaching and away days.

After one year, legacy rivalries were superseded by collective commitment to performance imperatives, and team was recognised for business discipline.

Long-term strategy review led by global network leader drew attention to necessity for urgent re-think of 5-year operational priorities.

Summary of one-to-one interviews in team showed agreement on strategic review but opposing views on next steps. Splits on global leadership team were apparent between line and functional roles, and between long-term associates of leader and relative newcomers.

Team coaching programme set up to support collective leadership of major project to re-cast organisation’s purpose, vision, strategy and 5 year operating plan. Began with team negotiation of varying contributions to ‘collective leadership’ and setting ground rules to guide behaviour. Programme involved one-to-one coaching and team away-days.

Radical approach to managing into the future emerged from united team, and was accepted by corporate executive body.