SERVICES - TEAM COACHING/TEAM BUILDING

Our team coaches/team builders can help your team achieve better results.

Our philosophy:

Teams exist to produce results. Our job is to help them do that.

Our approach:

We typically take a team coaching approach. We help the team diagnose what it needs to do to improve performance and we coach it through the needed changes. Our coaches use a facilitative approach that allows the team to function within an effective leadership structure that maximizes constructive input from all team members.

What makes teams productive:

To maximize productivity:

• Teams must have the means to produce; and,
• Team members must have amongst them relationships that allow them to work well together.

Maximising a team`s means to produce involves maximizing the following seven Team Productivity Strengths:

1. Resources: The team requests, obtains and manages sufficient resources, expertise and training to achieve its objectives.
2. Alignment: The resources at the team’s disposal have been appropriately marshalled so as to maximize the returns on each resource. Roles including leadership roles are properly defined and exercised.
3. Goals and strategies: The team has clear and challenging objectives and priorities as well as good strategies for achieving them.
4. Team leadership: The team leader(s) exercise constructive, appropriate and effective leadership approaches and styles, and address systemic and non-systemic issues that impact productivity.
5. Accountability: All team members including the team leader(s) are actively held accountable for their actions and results.
6. Proactivity: The team anticipates challenges and deals with them as early as possible. It is effective and flexible in addressing and embracing opportunities for positive change.
7. Decision making: The team enjoys clear, nimble, decisive and effective decision making. Opposing points of view are sought out in a time effective, constructive and respectful way that leads to decisive, durable, and respected decision making.

Maximizing the quality of relationships within teams to enhance productivity involves maximizing the following seven Team Positivity Strengths:

1. Trust: Team members believe that they are and will be treated fairly by the team and those on it. They feel safe on the team and feel they can count on and rely on others on the team, including their leader(s).
2. Constructive interaction: There is a culture of dealing with conflicts rather than forcing them under the table. Team members embrace the healthy expression of different views and perspectives in ways that are constructive. Feedback is given in a constructive way. Disputes are resolved constructively, quickly, effectively and with durable outcomes.
3. Optimism: Team members are forward thinking and enthusiastic about achieving their goals. They are confident in their ability to achieve goals. Cynicism, pessimism, helplessness and dwelling in the past are minimized.
4. Respect: There is genuine regard for all members of the team, their points of view and their roles on the team, including leadership roles. Members of the team feel their contribution is valued. Nobody feels abused, exploited, manipulated or treated unfairly.
5. Communication: Clear, productive and constructive communications are favoured and practiced over less effective, destructive or wasteful approaches. Team members listen to each other and they send clear and constructive messages in ways that are able to be heard by their intended recipients. Communications take into consideration the “human element” of dealing with others on the team.
6. Camaraderie: People enjoy being on the team, being in the workplace and working with all members of the team. Nobody feels intimidated. There is healthy empathy, playfulness and humour within the team.
7. Deep Democracy: The team seeks out, values and capitalizes on all of the helpful ideas, perspectives, personalities, approaches and strengths on the team. The team is open-minded. People feel heard.

How we typically conduct a team coaching intervention:

• Members of the team complete the online Team Diagnostic Assessment - an anonymous questionnaire that measures the Seven Positivity Strengths (Resources, Alignment, Goals/Strategies, Leadership, Accountability, Proactivity and Decision Making) and the Seven Productivity Strengths (Trust, Constructive Interaction, Optimism, Respect, Communication, Camaraderie and Deep Democracy).
• The results are compiled and summarized in a report.
• Our coach diagnoses the team’s situation, in part relying on the report.
• Our coach designs an intervention that is targeted to the needs of the team.
• An intervention will most often involve a facilitated group session with the team (two to four days) during which:
  • The results of the diagnostic assessment are progressively revealed to the team members;
  • We facilitate a discussion about the results, what to do about them and how to do it; and,
  • We coach the team through the design of a practical and effective plan of action to enhance results.
• Following the facilitated session we coach the team through the implementation of its action plan (typically 6 months).
• At the end of the implementation the team members take the Team Diagnostic Assessment over again to evaluate the results/changes and to plan out any further changes that might be needed.

Nous offrons nos services en français.

We have offices in Ottawa and Toronto.