Introduction
The power of teams lies in their potential to creatively tackle complex issues, problems and opportunities and develop effective, sustainable solutions. However, teams often encounter a number of barriers that prevent them from reaching their full potential. From poorly defined project objectives to a lack of alignment around ground rules and absence of role clarity, many factors exist that can compromise team performance.
Over the next two editions of the Oisin e-Newsletter, we will present our 6 Step coaching methodology that has successfully assisted many teams attain high levels of performance. This month we will focus on the first three steps of our team coaching methodology and next month we will concentrate on steps four to six.
Step 1. Design a shared team purpose
Step 2. Determine the context
Step 3. Develop potential ways forward
Step 4. Decide upon an optimum strategy and address barriers
Step 5. Establish a way to monitor progress
Step 6. Gain sustained commitment
Step 1: Design a shared team purpose
Objective:
All team members understand the purpose of the team and develop a shared understanding regarding the desired outcomes that will define the team’s success.
A common source of team problems is that newly formed teams quickly jump into the business of attempting to accomplish tasks without first having a clear and shared understanding of the team’s goals. A shared understanding of why the team exists and what it is attempting to accomplish is critical for the team’s ultimate success - without such alignment, the actions of individual team members can quickly translate into wasted effort that impedes the ability of the team to achieve its objectives.
A team coach can assist a team build consensus of purpose by helping define a common vision as well as a set of shared goals and objectives. To this end, the development of a team charter that captures key information can be extremely useful in building team alignment as it is a lasting reference document that clearly describes what the team attempting to achieve and why.
Questions a coach might ask to develop a shared vision of a team’s purpose and a clear understanding of its goals include:
- Why are we here…what is our core purpose?
- What do we see as our key objectives?
- Will these objectives lead to the accomplishment of our desired goals?
- Is the scope of the project clearly defined so as to avoid ‘scope creep’?
- What are the key deliverables…are they specific and tangible?
- What are the critical success factors by which the team will measure itself?
- What is each individual team member’s unique contribution to the team?
Step 2 Determine the context
Objective:
The team has a thorough, in-depth and objective understanding of all the elements impacting their shared goals.
Once the team has a shared vision of what they want to achieve, a team coach can assist team members form an accurate and collective assessment of the unique context within which they are operating.
An open, but structured, forum where individual team members share their insights and expertise allows for the identification of a range of factors that may influence what the team will be able to accomplish. The result of such a facilitated dialogue is a richer understanding by the team as a whole and greater buy in to the overall team process.
The coach’s questioning during this step focuses on factors such as the following:
- The knowledge base, skills and areas of expertise of team members
- Resources available to the team (tools, materials, facilities)
- Additional information, skills and resources required to accomplish the project objectives
- Level of support for the team (sponsorship, approval, assistance)
- Potential challenges and roadblocks impacting the team
- Related projects currently underway that may have an impact on the team
- Previous cultural responses to similar projects or activities and relevant learnings
Step 3 Develop potential ways forward
Objective:
The team has generated a broad range of forwarding options without undue censorship or evaluation.
Once the nature of the operating environment is understood, the team can begin to explore potential ways of achieving its desired outcomes. The central issue is how the team leverages collective knowledge, skills and experiences to accomplish its goals.
The multidisciplinary nature of teams can yield tremendous advantages in developing creative solutions as the collective expertise of the team will obviously be greater than the knowledge of any single individual. However, a supportive team process needs to be in place in order to extract this potential benefit.
The purpose of this step is not to discover the “best” solution; rather it is to generate a range of possible ways forward. Typically the solutions offered at this stage will not be complete in themselves; however, they are likely to contain valuable components that can later be incorporated into the overall strategy.
This step sees the team coach help generate “unseen” solutions by asking questions that promoting insightful discovery. In addition, the coach can help maintain a creative environment where judgement by team members is temporarily suspended. This allows people to share potentially valuable ideas and thoughts that they might otherwise censor.
Questions a coach might ask in order to facilitate the development of potential solutions include:
- What alternatives are there?
- How could ‘X’ be done differently?
- If this weren’t an obstacle, what would we do?
- If there were no restrictions, what would we do?
- What avenues have we not considered at all?
- What sacred cows do we need to challenge?
- If ‘X’ were here, what creative options might they add?
- What is the wildest approach we could take to this?
Conclusion
The first three steps of Oisin’s coaching methodology form a solid base from which effective strategies can subsequently be developed. It is critical that the team first clearly understands their core purpose as well as both the constraints and opportunities present within their operating environment. Once these initial steps have been successfully completed the team can focus its energy on generating creative and innovative solutions.
Join us next month for a continuation of this discussion where we address steps four, five and six of our team coaching methodology:
Step 4. Decide upon an optimum strategy and address barriers
Step 5. Establish a way to monitor progress
Step 6. Gain sustained commitment
