ELEVATE TEAM PERFORMANCE

Self-serving behavior and competing interests, i.e. individuals motivated by individual-performance measures and rewards, undercutting team members they view as competition. At a more mundane level – just not reaching out to help each other when it is clear that that kind of help is required.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Elevates team over self
• Prioritizes this team over departmental team
• Aligns resources and structure to the team’s purpose.

Trust-damaging behaviors such as rumors, triangulating conversations, and credit or recognition not being given or shared. This can be subtly seen in the avoidance of responsibility for team results and meetings after the meeting.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Courageously demonstrates and builds trust
• De-escalates damaging triangulation behaviors
• Learns and uses a language of gratitude.

Confusion over roles and responsibilities—particularly in overlapping areas and during the high-pressure or time-sensitive situation. Often people are just a bit too nice and so not quite getting to the conflict fast enough which causes delays – and therefore more conflict to avoid. In teams with a “truth-teller” often the problem is just the opposite, the person speaking up gets blamed for the issues and this perpetuates the cycle.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Defines clear and distinct roles.
• Courageously enters into uncomfortable conversation.
• Discusses the undiscussable with empathy

A pattern of behavior suggesting a lack of accountability across teams or organizations.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Acknowledges responsibility for current situation.
• Is Accountable without the need to blame.
• Achieves results vs just doing the job.

Systemic toxic conflict and combustible interpersonal dynamics and/or complete avoidance of necessary difficult conversations.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Relentlessly eliminates Toxic conflict behaviors
• Demonstrates positive conflict communication skills (Team Toxins)
• Recognizes everyone has responsibility in the system.

Communication failures, often are the product of a lack of well-designed procedural guidelines or failure to adhere to established procedures. We help teams establish these best practices where there are none and tweak those that need them. My role as the coach is to ask the dumb questions that get to the heart of the matter, “Why are we doing it this way?” and “What’s the cost of continuing to do it this way?”

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Makes and keeps agreements about communication practices
• Understands how personal and organizational integrity keeps the team whole and complete
• Can take multiple perspectives and larger world view on issues in service of the mission.

Inequity or perceived inequity, particularly when related to newer, less experienced, virtual, and/or remote team members.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Values all forms of diversity
• Treats all members with respect
• Puts the team over personal relationships

Failure to adapt and act quickly enough happens because the decision-making authority not being properly distributed throughout the organization. This starts with you, of course, but on the highest performing teams – the players don’t wait for the coach to tell them what to do and that’s where we want you to be as soon as possible.

Anticipated Outcomes from Team Coaching:

• Acts proactively because they understand resource authority.
• Has appropriate delegation skills and uses them to empower the people beneath them.
• Knows and follow best practices meeting management skills.

We evaluate your executive team and key managers using the Team Diagnostic Assessment to measure productivity and engagement. This 20-minute online tool provides anonymous feedback, uncovering your team’s strengths and areas for improvement. We also gather Team 360 feedback from leadership stakeholders to ensure many external perspectives are considered. 

After the data collection we conduct a team performance workshop to address core issues and create a plan. The workshop usually takes place over a couple of days. The goal is to establish clarity around the team’s needs moving forward. During the workshop we set ground rules, review the collected data with the team, and engage in exercises to define the team’s purpose.

Over 6-12 months we refine the meeting structure to enhance team performance during monthly coaching sessions. Early sessions include reporting on progress, setting learning objectives, and reviewing team interactions, which may be video-recorded for further insights. Teams practice what they’ve learned and receive feedback on their actions.

At the end of the program we reassess the team using the Team Diagnostic, establishing a new performance benchmark to drive the next phase of growth. A one-day, high-impact workshop focuses on increasing accountability across the team. Both collectively and individually, team members evaluate their performance, focusing on social support, conflict resolution, and fostering a positive team climate. 

In the most basic terms: A team that knows how to get things done WITHOUT harming each other in the process.  Beyond that It fosters a culture of accountability, supports the development of strong relationships among team members, and encourages a focus on collective success rather than individual achievements. Through team coaching, teams learn to navigate challenges more effectively, make decisions more collaboratively, and adapt to change more swiftly, leading to sustainable improvements in both productivity and team dynamics. All of these skills end up helping the team to be better teammates and team leaders in their own right over time as well – The cascade effect!

Is your team’s work product Important bordering on essential? Is it important that the team accomplishes its goals collaboratively and creatively?  Will it cost you a great deal if you have to replace team members in terms of time and money and/or slow down your overall output? If the answers to these are a resounding “Yes!” then Team coaching is certainly worth it. If you can get by just doing the same old thing, your results are fine and you can deal with inevitable attrition from normal teaming – Team coaching coaching might not be worth it for you.

Absolutely and in some cases and in certain situations it can be “more real” than doing it in person. Of course off-sites in person are more “fun” and we HIGHLY recommend the opening and closing sessions be done in person – Zoom works well for any parts that can’t be done in person.

While the four phases of the system work in harmony to advance the team’s work together we offer as much support as needed to get the team climbing faster. 

1) Ongoing training/coaching for the leader of the team based on real time observations from the team coach. 

2) Check-ins and accountability software between sessions to support the team’s ongoing practice. 

3) Optional or as-needed training sessions for the team on tactical teaming topics like conflict management, Giving and receiving feedback, Listening and somatic practice. 

4) Really anything you can imagine – we’ve probably tried with teams so the sky is really the limit here.  We’ll learn your team and coach you enough to know how and when more help might be needed.