Is a team ever “ready”?

I think they are rarely ready for team development and coaching, but start anyway! Teams are/were also not ready for the impacts of COVID, or inflation, or wars, or other environmental factors, but it happens/happened anyway.

When I reflect back on a team I worked with over a number of years, and know very well, they were not ready. The leader wasn’t really open to change at the time, the team were new to their roles and completely absorbed with significant system and process changes, and they lacked the resources they needed to deliver to stakeholders. But we started working together anyway, and it turned out to be the right decision. Recently the leader shared “Looking back now I am grateful we started the work when we did, as the work done early on played a big part in having survived/succeeded the impacts of COVID-19.” And the team feel the same way.

We don’t know what’s around the corner and what may seem like the wrong time, might in fact be the right time. Just start!

If you would like to find out more about how team coaching can help you and your team survive the unexpected... just start... get in touch!

#teamcoaching#teamdevelopment#juststart#expectunexpected

Compassion for Easter?

2022 is flying by! While I am tracking well with some goals I set for myself and my business for this year, I'm making very slow or no progress with others. And I am fine with it. I didn't exactly plan the environment I find myself in either!

I am sure you and your team are in a similar situation. The uncertain and quite frankly crazy world we find ourselves in is more reason that ever to give ourselves a break, acknowledge everything that has changed since setting our goals, celebrate progress made, and practice self and team compassion.

Take a little time over Easter to reflect, and give yourself a break!

#easterreflection#selfcompassion#teamcoaching#teamcompassion

Give a team fish, or teach a team to fish?

As tempting as it may be to order the catch of the day at a fine dining restaurant from time to time, you will be able to eat fish every day if you learnt how to fish. This has been on mind a lot recently. First, I have been working in partnership with a consultant supporting a client through a team transition. My college’s approach is to serve a pan fried trout with all the trimmings. My approach is to take the team out to a stream, give them some rods and lures, and practice fly fishing together. And I think both have their place. Combined, we are meeting the clients short terms needs, and building capability for the future as well.

Second, I have been writing about my early experience as an internal team coach. Although I was taking the team fishing on a regular basis, I was providing them with an open seafood buffet on a day-to-day basis as well. Of course the buffet was easier and faster for the team to consume, so they picked that option. It took a lot of energy to encourage the team to fish for themselves and support their long term growth. I learnt a lot from that experience, and I think the leader and team did as well.

If you or your team would like learn more about fishing (and by fishing I mean high performance leadership and high performance teamwork), please get it touch. I have plenty of lure options to share with you.

#teamfishing#leadershipdevelopment#teamcoaching