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Team Coaching
Team Coaching is not getting the team together for a beer. Developing a team and improving a team’s performance is hard work, but if done correctly pays off.
Team Development
When you make the effort to build the proper foundation for teams, the true potential of the team members can be released, resulting in a high-performance team. In addition, team members learn valuable skills that can be transferred to other teams. Finally, by having a well thought out foundation ahead of time, the team ensures that its members will be successful not only in achieving the mission, but also in developing positive relationships in the way they work with each other.
Research in group development has found that there are seven basic blocks that need to be in place before the team can begin work on its assigned mission. Experience has shown that if these blocks are in place, there is a greater likelihood that the team will complete its mission. My team development process takes the nascent team through the seven building blocks listed below:
It is important for every team to have a sense of identity. Identity is based on values and a vision. When a team takes the time to define its values and vision, it’s in a much better position to develop a strong “root system” that will allow it to weather the product development storms.
The mission statement is the team’s raison d’etre. Simply put, the mission statement describes what the team is charged with doing, the reason for the team’s existence.
It is a popular misconception that all decisions made by a team are done via consensus. Nothing could be further from the truth; it is unrealistic to expect every decision to be made by consensus; it would simply take too long. When team members agree on how decisions are to be made, they waste less time due to arguing about how and who are involved in making decisions.
Norms describe how the team works together. They describe both work processes and interpersonal processes. If teams do not have agreed upon norms for how they work together, the probability for wasteful conflict increases resulting in poor performance.
According to Drs. Debra Ancona of MIT, and David Caldwell of University of Santa Clara, the key to a team’s success is effective boundary management. Boundary management is the process of building a complex web of relationships to manage the coordination, knowledge transfer and political maneuvering necessary to get the mission accomplished.
Roles and responsibilities describe how the work gets done in the group by focusing on individual commitments and activities. A role is a label for a series of responsibilities and serves as a convenient classification description. More important, are the responsibilities that define the role. Poorly defined activities lead to lack of coordination and teamwork. Ultimately, poorly defined responsibilities will cause the team to be unsuccessful in reaching its goal. What I recommend at this point are exercises that clarify individual roles and responsibilities.
A good plan starts with the end and then works backward. Therefore, the first planning step begins with the goal. A team’s goal may be similar to the mission statement, except for one important difference: it has a completion date.
Team Assessment & Adjustment
Team assessment and adjustment is for existing teams that want to improve their performance but aren’t sure how to do so. I typically begin with an assessment: Real Time Group Level Assessment (see description of process under Assessment tab). After the assessment is complete, I help the team determine how to implement the recommendations and measure its success. I then stay connected to the team, coaching them as they implement their improved processes.
Results
Teams I Coach Tend To: