Team coaching for shared responsibilities
Your leadership team may be full of capable people and still struggle to work together. I help executive and management teams work on shared decisions, relationships and what happens after a meeting ends.
When the meeting ends but nothing moves
You might recognise a discussion that sounds settled in the room, only for the same issue to return next time. Or strong departmental priorities that make it difficult to take responsibility for the organisation as a whole.
Decisions that keep reopening
How does the team reach a decision, and who takes it forward? What happens when someone isn’t convinced? We look at those questions rather than assuming a polite meeting means everyone has agreed.
Responsibilities that overlap or disappear
Unclear expectations can leave people defending their own area or waiting for someone else to act. We look at how the team understands its responsibilities, including the work that depends on more than one person.
Disagreement that stays outside the room
The team may need a better way to question, challenge and listen. We consider what makes those conversations difficult, rather than simply asking everyone to be more open.
The team needs to know what this is for
You may be commissioning the work as a CEO, MD, People or learning and development lead. We agree the purpose with you and the team, including who takes part, what needs attention and how feedback and confidentiality will work.
We might begin with conversations, information you already have, or agreed observation of the team at work. We choose what will help us understand the situation, rather than starting with a tool and seeing what it produces.
Work on what happens between meetings
We work with the decisions, expectations and conversations the team is facing now. I’ll ask questions and challenge assumptions, while keeping the wider organisation in view. The aim is to understand the shared work, not rehearse an ideal version of teamwork.
Between sessions, the team tries agreed changes in its everyday work. We return to what happened, what was harder than expected and what needs another look. We agree the number and spacing of sessions around the work that’s needed.
My Better Work Approach helps us understand the situation before deciding on a response. It doesn’t prescribe the same programme for every team.
My approachUnderstanding the people and the group
The sessions never felt ‘out of the box’ but totally tailored to us and our needs. She checked in regularly between sessions to understand how things were landing.
Agree what useful progress would look like
What would make a useful difference for this team? We might look at whether:
Decisions have clear owners
Different views and mistakes are discussed openly
Agreed priorities are followed through
We choose what to review around the question that brought you here.
We’ll ask what the team is noticing, what you can see as the sponsor and what remains difficult. Feeling positive after a session matters, but we also need to look at what happens back at work.
Questions about team coaching
Does everyone need to take part?
We agree who needs to take part around the team’s shared responsibilities. The work needs the team’s involvement. A conversation with the manager alone can help us understand the situation, but it isn’t a substitute for working together.
How is this different from individual coaching?
Team coaching focuses on work the team shares. Individual leadership coaching gives one leader space to work on their own responsibilities and responses. A leadership development programme brings people together to learn, even when they work in different teams.
How are the format and fees agreed?
We discuss the team, preparation, working sessions and how we’ll review progress. Those decisions shape the proposal and fee. We agree them before beginning, rather than asking you to choose a standard number of sessions.
What is your team finding difficult?
A short description of the team, its shared responsibilities and what keeps getting in the way is enough to begin.
Contact Lisa