TEAM COACHING – MODULE 2 (TC2A202008)

Performance vs dysfunction

In this session, we will review several models of team performance – in particular, Hawkins’ five disciplines, Clutterbuck’s five pillars and Lencioni’s dysfunctions of a team. We will use critical analysis to compare and contrast and to review the practical applications of these models. Participants will review their own experiences of teams in the context of these models. We will also share current research into the behavioural traits of high performing teams and look at the implications of this knowledge for effective team coaching.

Specific issues we will examine include:

• What is team performance?
• How does it differ from individual performance?
• How can the team coach assist a team in defining and measuring its own performance?
• Psychological factors that make self-assessment of team performance difficult

Teams as systems and parts of systems

Overview of systems theory and its application to teams. Participants will learn how to help the team create and work with systems mapping. We will also explore Laske’s concept of “collaborative intelligence”.

The CNIIC model as a template for enquiry

CNIIC stands for:

• Context – the influence of the environment the team operates in
• Narrative – the story the team tells itself and others about itself
• Identity – the assumptions the team makes about how it should work and how
• Individual performance – how each person chooses to work within the team
• Collective performance – how the team combines the strengths and energies of the team members to produce an optimum result

We will review how the team coach can use this template to structure the coaching intervention. Participants will design their own approaches to helping teams address each of these issues.

Conflict

Review of Bion and other authors on the nature of conflict and conflict resolution. Participants will design their own approaches to a) identifying conflict and b) helping the team address negative conflict, both within the team and with other teams. They will also explore methods of helping the team enhance positive conflict.

Supervision session

Three or more participants will present a case study from their experience. For each case the group will consider alternative approaches that might have been used, and the advantages and disadvantages of these.

Contracting with the team

The four contract model – contracting with the team leader, the team members individually, the team collectively, and with yourself. Reflection and co-design of guidelines for each of the four contracts. How can we ensure these contracts are compatible?

Decision-making

We will critically review models of decision making and how these may apply to the team context. Reading includes Cass R Sunstein & Reid Hastie, Making dumb groups smarter Harvard Business Review, Dec 2014 pp90-98

Dimensions of trust

We will critically review several models of trust and how these can inform the team coach’s approach. Participants will work in groups to design trust-based interventions, based on presented scenarios.

Power issues in teams

Power distribution and its impact on team performance. Practical ways to assess and work with power dynamics.

Powerful questions

We will explore the concept of powerful questions, firstly as a general aspect of coaching, then specifically in the context of team coaching. Participants will practice creating powerful questions to assist in a variety of common team coaching situations.

A collection of tools and techniques

Discussion and some practices of techniques to:

• Encourage honesty in the team coaching sessions, especially with regard to “the elephant in the room”
• Explore task and relational dynamics
• Explore individual v team identity
• Work with sub-groups

The leader v the team

Practical issues arising from the relationship between the leader and the team. The theory of leader-member exchange. Discussion of scenarios relating to leader-member exchange.

Supervision session

Three or more participants will present a case study from their experience. For each case the group will consider alternative approaches that might have been used, and the advantages and disadvantages of these.

Psychological bases of team coaching

What are the practical applications to team coaching of Cognitive Behavioural Coaching, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and other psychological approaches?

Emotional intelligence and team coaching

In what ways does collective EI manifest itself. How can a team coach work with the dynamics of collective EI?

Strengths-based team coaching

Summary of McKie (2016) and discussion of the practicalities of using a strengths-based approach.

Team maturity

Review of Laske and other models of team maturity, in the context of models of individual maturity (Kegan, Torbert et al). How would you as a team coach assess the maturity of team members individually and collectively?

Using constellations and psychodrama

Basic theory and practice of constellations and psychotherapy (Whittington, Thornton and others). In what circumstances are these approaches most likely to work?

Supervision session

Three or more participants will present a case study from their experience. For each case the group will consider alternative approaches that might have been used, and the advantages and disadvantages of these.

How to prepare for and use supervision as a team coach

Practical session reviewing good practice. Exploration of various models, including an extension of Hawkins’ 7 eyes model