When teams transition they can lose momentum and, as a result, the progress towards key organisational impacts can stall.
This transition could take the shape of a:
- Newly formed team.
- Merger of existing teams (e.g. after a restructure).
- New leader taking over a team.
- Short-term key project team being set up.
Significant team changes like these can hinder the delivery of key outcomes and you have a crucial decision to make at this point.
Do you invest in helping those teams coalesce quickly, identifying what is important and executing a plan that the teams themselves generate and own?
If so, what shape should such support take?
The power of team coaching
Very different to team bonding or away days, team coaching is an ideal way to help teams and their individual members get clear on what they need to achieve.
Then, it can focus on aligning those business imperatives and map out a way to achieve them.
External help should be temporary in nature, with the ideal result being that both the nominal leader of the team and the leaders within the team can reduce the time to impacts through coordinated and committed actions.
The team coach’s goal is to do themselves out of a job.
Their aim is not for the team to build long-term reliance on the coaching team, but for the team coaching to help the team develop to a point where each individual member, as well as the collective body, are better able to lead themselves to deliver the key impacts they have been assigned.
The team should be able to lead itself in time. However, it’s worth noting that the fact that it has not done so to date, is often a key indicator that some skilled external help is required.
When teams are new, there are several factors that typically slow down the pace the team can perform at and, in our experience, these are commonly:
- Lack of alignment around the purpose and key impacts of the team.
- Insufficient strength of relationships within the team.
- Ways of working that are inconsistent with desired outcomes.
Addressing these factors is crucial for enhancing team performance.
Firstly, aligning the team around a clear purpose and shared objectives fosters cohesion and direction.
Secondly, cultivating strong relationships among team members promotes trust, collaboration, and effective communication.
Finally, establishing effective working methods that support desired outcomes ensures efficiency and effectiveness in achieving goals.
By addressing these challenges head-on, teams can accelerate their transition to high performance and drive meaningful organisational impact.
Team coaching is not the only way to help teams develop but it is especially effective at helping teams move from the early stages of formation and all the challenges that can accompany that, through to delivering important results that the business has deemed important.
Interestingly, we know that team coaching leaves a team more self-sufficient and more effective – in stark contrast to other forms of support which can disempower and de-skill team members, as they can feel dependent on the external consultants and gurus who are reinforcing their role as an indispensable expert.
Have you got any new teams that need a fast track to high performance?
We are seeing fantastic results running Team Coaching Projects and would love to talk to you about how we can help you too.
Exigence provides a full suite of evidence-based business coaching solutions, driven by a desire to help individuals and teams to achieve their performance potential. Find out more here or book a call to talk through how we can support you.
